Thread: How to finish bits of a burl bowl that have natural defects?

Nat, I find with burls Danish Oil works the best for me. I use U Beaut products on most of my stuff, it's is very good. I just find the DO works better, especially applied with a toothbrush, to get the oil into the various crevices in the burl.

ubeauts friction polishes need friction to heat them up and fuse them into the timber.

so, what i think may work is:
- put the polish onto the timber
- use a swandsdown (sp?) mop in a high speed drill....http://www.ubeaut.com.au/sdmops.htm

cheers

Originally Posted by I_wanna_Shed

I have used some EEE-Ultrashine on it which has worked very well. I had planned on finishing it with some Shellawax Glow (I love these U-Beaut products - perfect for turning!).

My question is, how do I apply this to the edges of the bowl that have defects? How do I get it right into it? Am I using the right product in this instance?

As Stirlo says you need friction and heat to get the Ubueat's to work. My experience with doing what Stirlo has suggested resulted in bits of the bloody mop caught all through the bowl as it tore away in the cracks, along with globules of the polish left sitting in the cracks. It wasn't a great look.

I'm currently experimenting with the Sam Maloof style of polish mentioned in this thread. Will certainly take longer and it has been a learning curve for me, but I am applying it to a chunk of red gum burl and a chunk of Yellow Box burl.

Anything like wax (or with a wax emulsion) used to be used with a stiff rotary brush mounted in a drill, to spread it properly in (and out) of voids and checks.

Since you've aready started, you might get some mileage with small amounts of Glow and a toothbrush.

But in general, oil finishes are a lot easier as Pat says.

Thanks for the help everyone. I ended up following Pat's suggestion and used Danish Oil, using a brush to get into the natural defects.

Its taken a while as work has been flat out and I haven't had any shed time. I'll post a pic in the next few days.

Cheers,
Nathan.