Thread: finishes on woods...

I'm not a fan of CA finish, although having said that I have a few of Bill's razors that are outstanding.

For me wood is a tactile material so I don't like to make it feel like plastic. Ca sure does do wonders for the appearance though.

I now use tung oil (gun woodstock oil) and after I've applied the coats I want, I finish off with briwax. I get a nice warm feel to the wood and I could get carried away and apply a bizillian coats to get high gloss if I wished.

Just my view on things.

Gary

Jason,

Nice comparison of the finishes and very accurate conclusion. The CA is beautiful and durable but Tung oil has a more pleasant feel to it. I apply a few coats of tung oil while sanding down the wood to bring out a deeper color and finish it with CA. A few thin coats of Tung oil tend to change the color a lot less and gives the wood a darker, wet color.

Tung Oil is problematic. It tends to gel with exposure to air. I settled on using the Tung Oil Sealer for all finishing because it is thinner and has less of the gel lumps that form in Tung Oil.

I tried an inert gas spray from Lee Valley to keep tung oil and other finishes that react with oxygen from lumping. It works well to prevent gelling of tung oil but is a bit pricey if you keep opening and resealing the container; it needs to be applied every time to displace the trapped air at the top. I use it only for the big can that I open when refilling the smaller one. I like the marble idea, it is a cheap and effective solution.

It sounds like Traditional Oil Stock Finish is possible alternative to CA when I don't need to create a thick coat to cover the brass. Thanks for the link.

It just occurred to me to try filling a syringe with the oil finish when starting a razor.

One can open the can only long enough to fill the syringe and then dispense the oil finish as needed from the syringe, not exposing it to the air between coats.

Vlad, could I do the same with Truoil and CA? Basically start off with a few coats of Truoil and then finish it with 6 coats of CA?

Does anybody use polyurethane two pack varnishes? I have some as i use them on my boat. Wouldn't they be pretty ideal for the rigors of the bathroom?

I was thinking of using a penetrating (thinned) epoxy to seal scales, followed by a few coats of polyurethane to protect the epoxy (as the epoxy is not uv stable and the PU is)?

Lots of very good information here guys

Vlad,
I was thinking of going with tung oil and then CA, glad to know someone else has already tried it and it works well. I was just worried whether or not the CA would adhere properly after coating with tung oil.

I also tried diluting my tung oil with mineral spirits like you mentioned back in my tung oil thread a long time ago. It seems to help the lumping problem. Also, I put the mix into one of those tin bottles that lighter fluid comes in. I've be having good results with that, it's a nice little dispenser that I can just squeeze some out when needed. So far it hasn't clogged at all, but I've only had very limited experience with it.

Tomebuesing,
I've already tried filling a syringe with tung oil. It partialy works, but the tung oil really gums up the action on the syringe Not sure about other less viscous oils though.

ernestrom,
urethanes are a viable alternative, but in a discussion I had with matt (aka shavethebadger), he said he doesn't like them as much because they are a headache to repair, which is one reason he prefers tung oil.

As for the epoxy finish, I'm very interested to know about that. I've been kind of tinkering with it to use on some other type of scales, but I always have a problem with airbubbles forming. I just can't mix the binary liquids together without little bubbles forming. I heard acetone may be used to thin epoxy, but I don't have any, and, don't know how much you can add before it compromises the polymerization of the epoxy.

ToxIK you can use denatured alcohol or lacquer thinner to thin epoxies, it takes very little. It will coagulate when you first start to mix but will quickly smooth out.

I build fishing rods and use a product called flex cote this epoxy is crystal clear. I put the bottles into the microwave for 5-6 seconds to thin the glue a bit, mix in a small container and stir with a non-porous implement (I use a small metal spatula) this will cut down on the bubbles. Spread/pour out on a sheet of aluminum foil, this will give you more working time. You can use a heat gun or an alcohol lamp to carefully remove any bubbles still trapped.