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ribot
21st February 2006, 06:15 PM
G'day guy's,
I was wondering if anyone can help me out with a finishing problem.
I am currently turning a piece of Red Gum into a platter for a wedding present. The piece of wood speaks for itself as it is beautifully figured.
I would like to show the figure off as much as possible without polyurethane etc. Is there a way of finishing that will show the timber off equally as well as when it is wet with water, if you know what I mean ?

ozwinner
21st February 2006, 07:11 PM
Try here (http://http://www.ubeaut.com.au/ubhome.htm) and this stuff.


http://www.ubeaut.com.au/SWC4.jpg



Al :)

dai sensei
21st February 2006, 07:21 PM
Red gum has a bad habit of dulling over time when you use shellewax on its own in my experience:( (gets absorbed:confused: . But if you use shellewax, let it cure properly, then shellewax cream I've found it Ok:) . Both from our favourite supplier:D .

Cheers

Baz
21st February 2006, 08:08 PM
Ribot, you can try 3 coats of Kunos Oil for a gloss finish, I prefer to use many coats of Danish oil for a satin finish.
Cheers
Barry

ozwinner
21st February 2006, 08:11 PM
Ribot, you can try 3 coats of Kunos Oil for a gloss finish, I prefer to use many coats of Danish oil for a satin finish.
Cheers
Barry

Baz! :eek:

You, you, you traitor you.

Al :D

Skew ChiDAMN!!
21st February 2006, 08:13 PM
Danish oil.

A bloke in my woodturning club can get amazing mirror finishes on red gum with it... I settle for satin.

Baz
21st February 2006, 09:20 PM
Al, I forgot to add that you finish off with a coat of Shellawax(if you so desire). :)
Cheers
Barry

BrettC
21st February 2006, 10:12 PM
Try EEE followed with shellawax - looks great when I've used it but haven't tried it on Red Gum yet so the advice above could be correct.

China
21st February 2006, 10:13 PM
As with the other advice red gum and danish oil are made for each other

ribot
22nd February 2006, 08:48 AM
O K, Thanks guys.
I will go with the Danish as I have some here and I forgot to mention that the wood is green as green, will give the others a try on something else.

Baz
24th February 2006, 07:38 PM
Ribot, if that Red Gum is green I would be waiting a while before finishing, Red Gum moves a hell of a lot, bad enough when it's dry let alone green.
Cheers
Barry

redwood
24th February 2006, 07:44 PM
Ribot go with baz`s idea of the kunos or ardvos. best oils on the market:D :D

ribot
3rd March 2006, 05:26 PM
I ended up using Triton oil as "she who must be obeyed "said Danish was probably toxic for food containers.
The bowl/platter has moved all over the place and it has been interesting to watch this process happen.
No pressure to finish the bowl/platter now as the groom to be got cold feet and shot through.
The upshot of that is that I can experiment some more with this bowl/platter.The finish so far looks matt however it seems that it is quite partial to a good buffing as when I rub it with my thumb it takes a shine quite readily. I just have to tweak my power drill for a little buffing.

Couple of things, first what is kunos or ardvos oil? never heard of them, and second how easy is it to post a digital image as we have a dig/ cam?

ozwinner
3rd March 2006, 05:33 PM
and second how easy is it to post a digital image as we have a dig/ cam?

Real easy.
Your pic must be under 100k bytes though.
Other wise it wont stick.

Al :)

ribot
3rd March 2006, 05:37 PM
Spose the details would be in the FAQ section or is it simple enough to post on this thread.

woodbe
3rd March 2006, 06:24 PM
It's pretty easy.

1. Take photo.

2. Open the photo on your computer in whatever useful program you have.

2b. Crop the photo so that whatever you are trying to show fills the frame.

2c. Resize the photo to about 600-800 pixels wide quality about 70% and save. (Photoshop does this in one dialog under the File menu: 'Save for web')

2d. Make sure the file is less than 100kb. If not, re-open it and reduce the size or quality a little and try again.

3. Create message on ubeaut. Type your message, then scroll down. Click the button that says 'Manage Attachments'

3b. There is a new window with 5 empty images shown. Click the 'Browse' button and locate your 100k or less image saved in pt2. Repeat for any other images you wish to appear with this message.

3c. When finished selecting images, click 'upload' If all goes well, and ubeaut likes your images, you should now be able to 'Submit, your message...

Good luck...

ps. You can also host your images on a webserver somewhere (ISP or imageshack etc) and then embed them in your message. Probably that's not what you want to do at this stage, but it is an option.

woodbe

ribot
5th March 2006, 03:02 PM
Thanks woodbe, I will see if I can't get a photo of this platter somewhere.

Baz
7th March 2006, 09:39 PM
Ribot, sorry about the delay in answering, Kunos Oil is a food safe oil made by Livos, if you do a google you may be able to find a distributer in your area. It is expensive but I thin it down 50% with thinners.
Cheers
Barry

Roly
9th March 2006, 10:17 PM
Hi guys, I usually burnish my red gum turnings with Triton oil up to 1200 wet and dry. Then I give it a coating of old bucks polish which gives it an appearent satin sheen until you hold it against the light and look along it when you see the mirror shine it really has. Very deceptive but nice. Gday Baz.

Roly

ribot
10th March 2006, 03:49 PM
Thanks Baz re the kunos oil, so far i've gone to 800 grit Triton oil, nice and smooth but still has a matt look even if the red gum looks great on it's own. I will probably go to 1000 but not expecting a glossy finish.
I have noticed that the pores aren't totally filled so perhaps I got it wrong with the slurry finish part of it.

Baz
10th March 2006, 04:16 PM
Ribot, if you follow the instructions for Kunos Oil you can achieve a gloss finish with 3 coats or a satin with 2.

Hi Roly, hows the Gallery going?

Cheers
Barry

rsser
11th March 2006, 03:21 PM
Redgum seems to vary a lot in density and colour. Maybe that's cos there's more than one species we call redgum.

If you want minimum darkening, then you could try several coats of nitrocellulose sanding sealer topped with a coat or two of wax.

Ubeaut Trad wax works well, as does Gilly Stephenson's Cabinet Makers Wax. (Don't bother with Black Bison IMHO).

ribot
11th March 2006, 04:49 PM
rsser, I'm afraid I'm addicted to oil on timber to bring out the colour. I once built a bookshelf for the father in law who said he didn't want oil on it as it would mellow with age. I was game.
That bookshelf is as stark as the day I sealed it with Nitrocellulose finish. That was some 10 years ago.
The timber was Mountain Ash.

ribot
11th March 2006, 04:51 PM
Oh yea, that Red Gum is a cameldulensis ( river red gum, very old.)

rsser
12th March 2006, 07:35 AM
Is there a way of finishing that will show the timber off equally as well as when it is wet with water, if you know what I mean ?

Fair nuff. I took you to be wanting the least darkening possible.

DO is my finish of choice on most turnings btw. Any oil helps to increase the contrast in the figure IMHO.

ribot
12th March 2006, 12:10 PM
My apologies if I through you off rsser with the water comment.
I often wet wood with water just to get an idea of how it will look with an oil finish.
I like a look of warmth about wood and for me oil does that.
What you can put over oil is another matter.
Currently I'm converting my drill into a buffer and I'm going to give the platter a good friction/wax finish, see if that doesn't do the trick.

ribot
13th March 2006, 01:12 PM
woodbe, here goes for an attempt to post photo, and thanks to all for your perseverence.
Thanks one and all.

ribot
13th March 2006, 01:14 PM
YeeHah!! Thanks once again woodbe and also a special thanks to She who must be obeyed for her help in getting this up.( Photo, thank you)

bdar
13th March 2006, 04:34 PM
Hi Ribot you said you like to use oil for a finish, have you tried organoil before?
They make a danish oil, hard burnishing oil and a wood turners high speed turning oil. I generally use the hard burnishing oil the most, but use the others as well. You sand your bowl to 600 wet and dry, do not remove any dust from sanding and apply the hard burnishing oil, let soak for 30 minutes. With the same piece of 600 wet and dry start sanding and burnish the oil in. You know it is working when your finger tips start to get hot, stop the lathe and see the oil/sawdust slurry that has been created. Get some paper towel, fold into quarters turn lathe on and remove slurry. Once all the slurry has been wiped away go to 800 and repeat the process, there is no need to re-oil the bowl, if you do get dry sawdust just paint some oil onto the surface of the paper. Repeat the same process through to 2500 and you will have a beautiful sheen to anything you make. It may seem a long process but the results are worth it. The site is www.organoil.com.au
Cheers
Darren

rsser
13th March 2006, 05:52 PM
Yep, good stuff Organoil.

I gave the burnishing oil away as I found that several weeks after use the grain was raised and the bowl needed more work.

Haven't found that with other finishes.

woodbe
13th March 2006, 09:07 PM
woodbe, here goes for an attempt to post photo, and thanks to all for your perseverence.
Thanks one and all.

Well done! Bowl looks good too :)

woodbe.

Baz
20th March 2006, 07:57 PM
Ribot, I have been using some wipe on poly for the first time today and I am impressed. Thought that next time I turn a Red Gum bowl I would give it a try, I am currently using it on some NG Rosewood, flat work.
Cheers
Barry

hughie
21st March 2006, 12:12 AM
Guys,

I have used the wipe on poly of some elm and a nondescript piece of eucalypt and it has worked well for me. So much so I have been using it fairly steadily on several new bowls and a vase, so far they are coming up very well.
hughie

ribot
23rd March 2006, 10:31 AM
Thanks dbar,
I think the Triton oil is similar to Organoil as the proceedure sounds the same.
Been having mouse (computer) problems + went camping to over Mt Wellington so sorry for late responses.

ubeaut
23rd March 2006, 11:25 AM
Organoil - hehehe...... Who do you think makes the Triton oil? Yep you guessed it.... Not the engineers at the Triton factory. :D