Holiday gifts

[poolhound]

What finish did you put on them? They look really shiny.

All natural. A few base coats of straight mineral oil and then a few final coats with a mineral oil and wax mix.

I keep meaning to try one of the penetrating salad bowl finishes but havent got around to it. IIRC its a little messier and time consuming to apply but you do get a more resilient finish.

[phrog]

Great designs and fantastic work. Just out of curiosity, are the end-grain boards more difficult than the long-grain boards?
Richard

[just started]

All natural. A few base coats of straight mineral oil and then a few final coats with a mineral oil and wax mix.

I keep meaning to try one of the penetrating salad bowl finishes but havent got around to it. IIRC its a little messier and time consuming to apply but you do get a more resilient finish.

Mineral oil I know, but what kind of wax do you mix with it and how do you apply it?

[poolhound]

Great designs and fantastic work. Just out of curiosity, are the end-grain boards more difficult than the long-grain boards?
Richard

I am not sure I would say they are really any more difficult from a technique perspective but there is more work. Essentially you must first make long grain boards and then cut these into strips and join them together to make the end grain board.

It does mean that you have to be able to be able to make the strips "joint-worthy." Also the final flattening of the end grain board is more tricky. You can use a ROS but it will take time, A belt sander is quicker but take care not to take out too much. A drum sander makes it much easier

[poolhound]

Mineral oil I know, but what kind of wax do you mix with it and how do you apply it?

You can mix with regular beeswax and or carnauba. you can buy at woodworking stores e.g. Highland sells blocks of beeswax like this...



If you are going to use a lot making you own is probably cheaper and you can experiement with different mixes but I have used something like this. which works just great.


Heat it first to make sure its very liquid and its easy to apply.