With a bit of mentoring and practice, I am starting to get results I am pleased with. These inserts are, from top down, Tulip Wood, Bolivian Rosewood, Honduran Rosewood, and Black Palm. The first two have a polyurethane finish while the bottom two have a CA finish. I was amazed at how easy and fast the CA finish was to do.
Nice work Kevin. I especially like the Bolivian Rosewood. But, I’m a sucker for any wood with some figure to the grain. Are you considering selling any? If so, what would you be asking. You can PM me if you don’t want to discuss it on an open forum.
Again, nice work.
Kevin,
Just beautiful!!! Have you turned any birds-eye or tiger maple?
Best regards, Dave S.
Not yet, but I have some really cool wood on the way.
I can certainly get the tiger or birds eye maples.
Not in the market but I agree on the Bolivian Rosewood…very nice!
Bob
Nice work. If you are going to turn bird’s eye maple I woulld try soaking it in thin ca glue. Turn it a little and the re apply the thin ca glue until you have reached you dia… The thin CA glue will stabilize the wood and strengthen the knots( the eye’s) so that they do not break out. I am guessing that tyhe black palm wood was a real pain to turn unlike the other you have done. I had turned a black and red palm duck call this year, and I swore I would never turn that stuff any more. Once again nice job.
Keep turning.
Larry
Beautiful!!!
I love woodworking, haven’t done much of it for a long time though.
TT.
That stuff is flat NASTY to turn. I had my tools SHARP and was more knocking off splinters than cutting anything.
I still have some of the Black Palm. I think I will try stabilizing it with polyurethane under vacuum and see how that works. I can not see how it could possibly be any worse.
Nice work Kevin!
OK, I know what CA glue is, but what’s CA finish?
It’s CA glue used as a finish. It is used on pens and reel seats because it is very hard and durable. It is easy to apply, does not change the color of the wood much at all, can be applied over tung oil or boiled linseed oil almost right away if you want to use the oil to accent the grain, and polishes up to a glass like finish pretty easily.
There are tons of tutorials available on the web. Just search for “CA finish”.
Here’s one in Olive Wood. Also a CA Finish.
Kevin
A few guys in the woodturning club I belong to were talking about finishing some wood with the oil that is already in the wood. What I mean is that the wood in mention, and I can’t remember right now what it was, but it would not take a traditional finish because of the oil in the wood. The finishing method used was buffing it with steel wool. Have you tried that type with the olive wood, or tried using “Renisance” Wax? I have turned a reel insert for Betty, and used the micro mesh sanding/ Burnishing method, and really did not need any finish. The seat seemed to shine right up.
Nice looking olive wood reel seat
Thank you, Larry.
I am far from an expert about a lot of the different woods, but I had noticed that some, like the rosewoods, will polish up very nicely without any finish. Antler will polish up very nicely. It seems the harder the material, the nicer the polish. Some of the sites I have found for pen blanks even tell you the polishing properties of the various types of wood. All of the above seats got a pretty nice luster to them without any finish. Some got fairly glossy with nothing more than polishing with a bit of wood shavings from the table under the lathe. Some woods need an alcohol bath to pull surface oil out of the wood so a traditional or CA finish can be applied.
I think a nice polish with maybe a wax finish would be fine for most indoor decorative turnings, but for anything that will be subjected to more use and abuse like a pen or reel seat, I want a nice protective finish to keep the oils and dirt from my hands from working it’s way into the wood. In most cases, my finish of choice is CA because of the speed of application and near instant results. I can turn a reel seat insert, have it finished to a high gloss, and glued into the hardware in about 30 minutes and ready to mount on the rod in another hour or two.
Kevin,
Do you go to Rockler there in Denver for supplies and exotic wood advice??
Yes, I do. They have been most helpful. I would go to Woodcraft more but they are a long ways across town and more expensive. I have taken to ordering wood online for some really unusual stuff. All of the wood in these seats came from Rockler, though.
The Columbus Rockler is a nice sizable store and it’s inside this WoodWerks http://www.woodwerks.com/contact.php You would be in heaven. We also have a WoodCraft.
Try woodcraft also.
Kevin,
I’m on the mailing/newsletter list for WoodSmith magazine. I just got this email tip this evening. see if it’s something that might work on turned inserts.