Bowl Finishes

[jimdave]

I am nearly finished my first bowl out of Myrtle which came as a blank from Trend Timbers.

I am just wanting to know what sort of oil or sealer I can put on the bowl. I have Danish OIl and just wondering is there anything else.

Thanks

[Mulgabill]

G'day jimdave,
I think we need an little more information, like what is the bowl going to be used for (ie. decorative, food) the size and perhaps what you would like to see as a finish ( gloss, satin etc). Given more information I'm sure you will get many suggestions.

[jimdave]

The bowl is just going to be used for for decoration, it is about 200mm in diametre and about 100mm in depth.
I'm looking for a shiny glossy natural feel finish but not super shiny.

[dai sensei]

Ubeaut's Shellawax Cream

[brendan stemp]

Rustins Danish Oil but you need to be prepared to give it few coats. But I enjoy oiling bowls. However, I now use a spray on nitrocellulose lacquer. A really good finish if you have a compressor and spray gun.

[hughie]

Wipe-on Poly, wax sticks of various manufacture ie #### hot wax and of course as mentioned Shellawax.

[rsser]

Myrtle usu comes up well with a DO. Which type do you have?

They vary a bit in colour and in the gloss level. Assume more resins in there = more gloss.

Organoil DO finishes flat so you need to do some wet sanding with it and buffing to raise a sheen. Rustins finishes satin or higher after say 3 coats but that can be lifted with buffing and a wax topcoat. FW Scandinavian Oil has a higher gloss in turn.

Rustins is my preferred finish for mid to dark woods.

[Calm]

I finish most of my "lookers" with EEE and Glow - i find it very good but can lose it's shine after a while and return to natural patina.

Cheers

[Bruceo]

Rustins Danish Oil but you need to be prepared to give it few coats. But I enjoy oiling bowls. However, I now use a spray on nitrocellulose lacquer. A really good finish if you have a compressor and spray gun.

I've finished hundreds of bowls with nitrocellulose lacquer, but no more. They look brilliant for a while (some years) but as many people find when they buy nitro finished furniture they don't handle light well. While some of the bowls are still going strong years on others have needed to be sanded back and refinished with something more durable. A good compromise might be something like FW satinproof sprayed on to get the even coverage from the gun, but drying time will of course be much longer, requiring a dust and insect free environment.

[jimdave]

Thanks for that guys I'm gunna head to the local hardware store on the weekend a see what I can get.

I'll put a photo up of it once I finish.

[brendan stemp]

Here's a good link on how to make your own Danish Oil.
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I have used this and it works well. Another, even simpler method I use on spindles (recorders) is to mix up some 2 pack wattyl estapol, wipe this on and then, with the lathe running, buff the spindle with a rag dipped in linseed oil. The linseed oil prevents the estapol from getting sticky and grippy and the buffing helps to accelerate the drying time of the estapol. I reckon this would work well on bowls as well and have even used nitrocellulose lacquer in the same way instead of the estapol.

[rsser]

Yeah, that's a good homemade oil finish recipe Brendan. Thanks for the link.

FWIW with light coloured bowls I use n/c sanding sealer applied with a brush while the bowl is on the lathe; wipe off with a rag and then cut back with 0000 steel wool. Repeat if nec. Then ubeaut Trad Wax over the top. Reason is that oil finishes usually darken light timbers too much for my taste.

[Texian]

Another lacquer fan here. A wipe-on coat of lacquer based sanding sealer followed by multiple coats of spray lacquer. I usually go for high gloss, but you can cut it back to almost any level desired with 0000 steel wool or wet sand w/ 1200 or even finer grits. The clear gloss lacquer is said to be a harder material than semi or satin due to the additives that make the "gloss" into semi or satin.

[jimdave]

This is my first bowl out of Myrtle.