Thread: Saw and Driver

Hi Ian. I am pretty sure Dale is talking about Isaac's saw nut driver he offers for sale on his website.

Blackburn Tools - Saw nut spanner

Originally Posted by planemaker

Hi Ian. I am pretty sure Dale is talking about Isaac's saw nut driver he offers for sale on his website.

OK, gotcha - I was wondering how he could have failed to see the saw post. Should read more carefully.....
Cheers,

Originally Posted by KlausK

... What did you use to finish them? Looks glossy nearly like laquer. I've a weakness for Olive so the right one is my favourite...

Hi Klaus. I used one of our sponsors products called "Shellawax". It's an emulsified shellac/wax mixture that you apply on the lathe. It is very simple to do, and lasts quite well. I also use it on saw handles. In that case, I rub it into the wood and buff it to a shine with a cloth wheel chucked in my lathe. It's a lazy person's way of getting a nice finish quickly - does a fantastic job on ebony!Small Ebony gauge.jpg.

Olive is certainly a nice wood, but we are blessed with some pretty spectacular native woods to choose from, too....

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

Hi Klaus. I used one of our sponsors products called "Shellawax". It's an emulsified shellac/wax mixture that you apply on the lathe. It is very simple to do, and lasts quite well. I also use it on saw handles. In that case, I rub it into the wood and buff it to a shine with a cloth wheel chucked in my lathe. It's a lazy person's way of getting a nice finish quickly - does a fantastic job on ebony!Small Ebony gauge.jpg.

Olive is certainly a nice wood, but we are blessed with some pretty spectacular native woods to choose from, too....

Cheers,

That's interesting indeed, Ian.

A few years ago I got a hint about Shellawax from Derek Cohen. It was the time when Pedder and I found Tru Oil to be a very good finish. I followed this hint and found out, that Shellawax indeed is a very high quality finish but a friction finish that typically needs the higher temperatures the workpiece gets when it will be finished in the lathe. Your marking gauge shows that it doesn't need higher temperatures necessarily to create a very nice gloss. Did you finish the driver handles in the lathe? They look that perfect...

Cheers
Klaus

Originally Posted by KlausK

A few years ago I got a hint about Shellawax from Derek Cohen. It was the time when Pedder and I found Tru Oil to be a very good finish. I followed this hint and found out, that Shellawax indeed is a very high quality finish but a friction finish that typically needs the higher temperatures the workpiece gets when it will be finished in the lathe. Your marking gauge shows that it doesn't need higher temperatures necessarily to create a very nice gloss. Did you finish the driver handles in the lathe? They look that perfect...

Klaus, yes, the driver handles were finished on the lathe. This is what Shellawax is designed for, and it does its job extremely well. It takes very little practise to learn how much to apply (not much!) and to move the pad at the right speed to generate the heat required, without cooking your fingers. The quality of the finish depends on the wood, of course, and fine-grained woods like Ebony and Olive respond magnificently.

When applying Shellawax to small objects like saw handles, you have two options - just rub it on as you would when using a shellac rubber on furniture, & if you are careful, you can achieve a fairly good low-gloss finish. But if you want a more prefect and high-gloss surface, it's necessary to buff it to raise that surface temperature. I run the cloth-wheel at a high speed, which does the job, but you must be careful, or you will remove too much of the polish and cause a bare patch, or even scorch the wood..

What surprised me most about the stuff is that despite being such an easy way to finish, which leaves a very thin coating, it is very durable. I have tools I finished with Shellawax more than 15 years ago, & they still look good. However, I think that has quite a bit to do with the type of wood, too.

Cheers,