Thread: Best finish for hand-plane handles in sweaty, hot tropics?

Disclaimer: I'm about to quote you a method I was taught by a fellow forums member who, admittedly, has better results with it than I do. I haven't figured out his secret yet...


If you have a high speed, cloth buffing wheel, you can use Shellawax. It's a wax and shellac mixture with some kind of catalyst that makes it harden to a durable shine almost instantly when buffed. The traditional means for application is for woodturning while the lathe is spinning, but you get the same effect with a high speed buff. Just spread it on and rub it gently until it goes dull, then buff. It has worked for me...

Hope that helps. I tend to sweat a lot while working by hand, for what it's worth.

Cheers,
Luke

Thans Luke. Do you think that a buffed Shellawax finish will be more durable with all the sweat and general neglect than a more traditional shellac/wax finish, furniture oil or polyurethane?

One problem with it is that there is no retail outlet here in Canberra who sells it. So if something else is just as good, then I'd be happy to push on and use something else.

Originally Posted by Gunnaduit

Thans Luke. Do you think that a buffed Shellawax finish will be more durable with all the sweat and general neglect than a more traditional shellac/wax finish, furniture oil or polyurethane?.....

Can't tell you that, as I've not done any direct comparisons. I use shellac a lot as a furniture finish, but rarely used it as a rubbed-on finish for tool handles. Logic tells me they ought to be similar, and shellac has certainly been used as a handle coaating in years past. However, as Luke says, Ubeaut add a few extras into their brew that seems to make the finish a bit tougher (tougher than ordinary orange flake mixes, anyway). What I can tell you is that the Shellawax/buff method is quick & easy! Takes about a minute to rub on a coat with a small cloth pad (maybe two coats if it soaks into the wood very quickly - depends on the porosity of the wood), and buff it off to a very pleasing sheen that not only looks impressive, it feels better in the hand than most other finishes I've tried over the years.

Brisbane is moderately tropical for a good part of the year, but doesn't quite match the wet tropics for prolonged humidity, of course. So far, I've found the Shellawax finish on handles to be amazingly durable despite the ease of application. My instincts tell me there's got to be a catch, but so far, it hasn't made itself obvious!

For plane & chisel handles, etc, I think I'd avoid 'traditional' linseed oil based finishes up your way. Apart from the lack of sheen, it's a great substrate for moulds, they seem to love the stuff. However, I still apply BLO to garden tool handles, axe handles or brush-hooks, for e.g. Old habits die hard!

Originally Posted by Gunnaduit

...One problem with it is that there is no retail outlet here in Canberra who sells it. So if something else is just as good, then I'd be happy to push on and use something else....

Yeah, that's a pest, it's not a cheap product & the freight is a killer - can't come by regular post because of the flammable solvent. The good news is that a little goes a very long way. I use it a lot, but only go through about one small bottle a year. It seems to keep ok, before I started using it as much as I do now, I've had bottles opened for up to 2 years without it going off....

Maybe you can find a recipe on the interweb and brew your own friction polish?
Cheers,

That's a pretty good rap for Shellawax. The ease of use certainly appeals, as does the probable tropical durability.

I guess that Shellawax would be good at filling the pores on the timber? I used silky oak because it is said to be a fine-grained timber good for plane totes and so on, but apart from the fancy medullary rays, it actually has quite large (about 0.3mm dia) pore structures.

Perhaps I should hold off finishing this project until I drive through Geelong next week, and go to Carrol's Woodcaft Supplies, who have Shellawax.

What about plain old paste car waxes? Work pretty well on painted surfaces and prevent rusting at chips so why not tools?

Shellac makes little sense, unless you do not plane to use it. Almost any oil and/or beeswax.

What's the main objection to shellac? Is it that it would flake or scratch off under conditions of neglect and humidity? Would beeswax remain dry (not tacky or sticky) when in contact with sweat?

Originally Posted by Gunnaduit

...I guess that Shellawax would be good at filling the pores on the timber? I used silky oak because it is said to be a fine-grained timber good for plane totes and so on, but apart from the fancy medullary rays, it actually has quite large (about 0.3mm dia) pore structures. ....

If by Silky Oak, you mean Cardwellia (which is "northern" S.O., & virtually the only commercial S.O. available nowadays), then it will take a bit more effort to finish it with a shellac type of finish, for sure. "Southern" S.O. (Grevilea robusta) is a much finer grained wood, and a lot easier to polish, in my experience. It's also generally a bit softer, so probably less suitable for plane handes on those grounds. For plane totes, I like to choose hard, dense, fine-grained woods - they are a little more difficult to work, perhaps, but they take a high polish easily and lend themselves to the 'quick & dirty' finish I like. In fact, for something like a plane tote, where you are going to do most of the work with a rasp or two, I would say it's easier to make from a hard wood than something medium soft like Cardwellia.

Shellac, properly mixed & used shouldn't ever stay 'sticky, If it does, you've got a problem, either with a wood that's incompatible, or you're using old stuff, that has passed its shelf life. Wax alone is ok on many woods, for some situations but it doesn't give much worthwhile protection from sweaty hands. You would need to apply many coats & buff off many times before you got a finish half as good as a single application of Shellawax would give you. At least that's been my experience....

Cheers,

Originally Posted by Gunnaduit

That's a pretty good rap for Shellawax. The ease of use certainly appeals, as does the probable tropical durability.

I guess that Shellawax would be good at filling the pores on the timber? I used silky oak because it is said to be a fine-grained timber good for plane totes and so on, but apart from the fancy medullary rays, it actually has quite large (about 0.3mm dia) pore structures.

Perhaps I should hold off finishing this project until I drive through Geelong next week, and go to Carrol's Woodcaft Supplies, who have Shellawax.

I would be surprised If a wipe on finish like Shellawax has any chance of filling the grain after 1 or 2 coats.

The 1st coat (seal coat) will just soak into the wood surface, and raise the wood fibers . Pointless applying a 2nd coat until those raised fibers have at least been lightly sanded back. IMO

Stewie;

I was probably under-informed with my reading about Silky Oak being good for plane handles - since there are three types of Silky Oak out there (original, northern and southern) - and it seems I got the wrong one (northern?), since it is so porous. Or rather, the one that I had in the hoard was the wrong one.

I'm still undecided about which finish to use. It seems there is a lot I still don't know, and that's what's holding me back from a decision.

- The initial appeal of shellac was that it would seal the pores. And that I have some. But doubt has been cast on its durability.
- Wax would also fill the pores - I have beeswax here but I'm still not sure if it will set hard and stay hard in use.
- And I guess there is the option of beeswax over shellac, but maybe that suffers from poor durability too.
- Oil (the Organoil I have) I suppose is durable, because it will soak in. But with the timber being so porous, I imagine it won't buff up that well.
- If Shellawax is going to be more durable maybe I should go with that - but most of the $30 jar will go to waste if it goes off within 2 years.
- And maybe Shellawax won't fill the pores in the timber either.

Looks like carving the tote and turning the knob was the easy part.

The pores are just there. I wouldn't fight them or fill them (you can if you want), but if I were to fill them, I'd first fill them with a pore filler and not the finish. For a saw or plane, I'd rather just leave them there.

My finish of choice for handles is oil and wax. the handles get dark in use from sweat and hand dirt, but I like the feel of it, and I like the idea of my handles getting burnished from use, which won't happen if there is a thick finish over them.

If you use beeswax, it will eventually get absorbed and not be sticky. If it's mixed with oil from the start, same (that's going to be the only way to spread it easily, anyway) is true, but they will be a little more sticky due to the oil and wax combination.

Shellac looks nice for a while. Regular waxed shellac and the less refined it is, the longer it will keep its shine. It's easily repairable down the road (which may be true for shellawax, I'll yield to the people who've actually used it). Early on, I put shellac on my handles because it looks nice. If I was making tools for people, I would put some kind of thin permanent finish on them because most people treat their tools like they would living room decorations, they don't want any signs of use on them.

Nice answer, D.W. What oil do you use?

Q: What are the advantages of dewaxed shellac over shellac with the wax still in it?

Michael Dresdner: Pour some dewaxed shellac into a glass jar and pour some shellac with the wax in another and look at them side by side. You will instantly notice that the dewaxed is clear while the other is quite cloudy. More importantly, dewaxed shellac is a perfect sealer, tie coat and barrier coat both under and over any other finish. Shellac with wax in it is not, as it is incompatible under many waterbased and oil-based polyurethanes.

http://www.woodworking.com/ww/Articl...-Wax-6336.aspx

linseed oil and beeswax. Sometimes my beeswax is mixed 50/50 with mineral oil, but on a new plane or saw, most of the oil is in the initial coats of linseed oil. I put the wax on before the oil is technically dried, I guess (the next day) and it eventually gets a sheen and gets a little more dry.

Refresh of more wax if needed later is just a 50/50 mineral oil and beeswax mix. Since the mineral oil doesn't dry, i guess it's a detriment, but in the end it doesn't seem to make a difference as long as most of the oil is BLO.

A 50/50 mineral oil and beeswax mix is one of the most useful things I have in the shop. It makes the wax spreadable, and it's also fantastic for scratches, cuts or cracks in your hands. Or as rust preventative that you don't have to wait to have dry and then come off. Beeswax and mineral oil are cheap here (about $6 a pound for beeswax and $15 a gallon for mineral oil - in 5 years, I haven't used the first quart if beeswax and mineral oil mix - 1 pint of mineral oil to 1 pound of beeswax, obviously. Just heat the mineral oil and melt beeswax into it - in a double boiler (glass jar in a shallow pot of boiling water is fine as long as the jar doesn't tip) that you won't fret having coated with an oil/wax mix that is difficult to remove from the original container.

Not advertising this as better than anything else, but it's definitely handy, and the wax/mineral oil mix seems to keep indefinitely without going funny.