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  1. 14th February 2014, 12:33 AM #1
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    surfdabbler
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    Default Mirror finish over cracked burl

    I have a piece of burl that I want a mirror finish on. I was considering a polished poly finish, but perhaps I'm better off getting some of that 'Liquid Glass' stuff? The burl has lots of little cracks in it - will I need to fill these cracks separately first, or will the Liquid Glass fill them for me? The cracks are much less than 1mm wide, and I think not likely to go all the way through. I just don't want to pour on the liquid glass only to have the cracks stand out as little reflective bubbles in the finish, and I don't want to have to get a syringe and manually suck out the air from each crack or anything like that. Now, here's the real rub - I'm not sure I like many of the Liquid Glass finishes that I've seen. With such a thick syrupy finish, it just looks a bit too plastic, and I'd rather keep more of a natural wood look to the item, albeit with a mirror finish gloss. Is it possible to put Liquid Glass on a bit more thinly?

    Alternatively, I could poly finish it, and then hand-polish it. I'm happy to do the polishing work, but I'm not sure how the poly will go with the cracks either. It could take a lot of poly before the cracks are filled.

    Any thoughts or suggestions?
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  3. 14th February 2014, 08:44 AM #2
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    Quote Originally Posted by surfdabbler View Post
    I have a piece of burl that I want a mirror finish on. I was considering a polished poly finish, but perhaps I'm better off getting some of that 'Liquid Glass' stuff?
    [...]
    Alternatively, I could poly finish it, and then hand-polish it. I'm happy to do the polishing work, but I'm not sure how the poly will go with the cracks either. It could take a lot of poly before the cracks are filled.

    Any thoughts or suggestions?
    I think that you're right to be concerned about the Liquid Glass & the cracks; in a similar situation in the past I've used a very thin variation that was almost the consistency of water... but that stuff was expen$$$ive. (And 'twas so far in the past that I've forgotten the brand name! )

    As a completely different alternative, have you considered Shellac?
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  4. 14th February 2014, 10:05 AM #3
    rod1949
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    In order to achive the finish on this burl bowl I had to inject/drip feed into each crack, it was very time consuming. I used Watson Feast Tung Oil. Initially I brushed and then finished by spraying.
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  5. 14th February 2014, 11:06 AM #4
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    Hey Rod, that's a nice looking shine for oil. I've not used Tung Oil before, but used Danish Oil a bit. I wonder if I could use Danish Oil, and polish it up with a buffing wheel. Gotta try that!
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