burnishing

[onedash]

I watched another one on TV last night and he made a little candle holder.
For finishing he just grabbed a handfull of wood shavings and held them against it while it spun. He said it burnished it....It was coccobola and it sure shined when he was done....should you still put a finish on it? Would you do that before or after????I dont think he used any type of finish..At least he didnt mention it.

[boblon]

I didn't see that particular show but cocobolo is a very oily wood. In fact it can be difficult to glue or finish without wiping it with acetone or something first.

Cocobolo is also a very dense tight grained wood. This combined with it's oil content allows it to take a very high polish without a finish.

The burnishing he did with the shavings was like a final polish.

Hope this helps.

BobL.

[onedash]

so that only works on oily wood??? makes sense...
Thanks..I have a board thats been sitting in my garage for 2 years or so. I have been meaning to make an ornament holder for it ever since I got it.
I guess I will have to make sure I dont use a design that depends on glue.
I was think some sliding dove tails...

[RayintheUK]

so that only works on oily wood???

You can burnish just about any wood with the shavings from the turning process. You soon get to know which ones to try and which ones to leave alone, by the amount of dust produced during the turning.

I tend to do a light burnish ahead of any sanding, because it can show up any high spots. Burnish again after sanding. More often than not, I still put finish on, though!

Ray.

[DeanKC]

I'm with Ray on this one. Not all woods burnish well, IMO and IME (in my experience).

Burnishing some species of maple tends to cause the wood to brown slightly, but to take on a really nice luster. Some might call it a patina. It's a nice sheen. Woods that are very deeply porous are kind of iffy for me. I've done burnishing on butternut with success, on some walnut with limited success, on some oak projects with limited success. Most (but not all!) of the tropicals or exotics are dense enough that the burnishing really helps polish up that wood.

As to finishes, there are very few woods that will not benefit from a finish. Usually, the finish is not just to give that nice sheen, but also to keep the wood from oxidizing, checking, major color changes, splitting, and all the other nasty things that can befall a great piece of wood!

One small caveat, read the labels on your finish of choice. If you over-sand or over-burnish, you run the risk of having your finish fall off! Been there, done that, sadly! Couldn't get that stuff to stick and was getting SUPER frustrated. Read the label and it was pretty clear as to why. I was sanding to 800 grit. Label said nothing past 220 and only 150 was really recommended! oops... Tried it again on a different piece of the same chunk of lumber and gee whiz, stuff stuck like crazy to the 150 sanded wood. Sheesh. Someday, I'll learn to read the labels first and not assume or presume.

[onedash]

Well it works great on coccobola and osage orange. good on walnut and ok on lyptus. I still put a finish on them though. I was almost done with a little cherry bowl and a giant chunk blew out of the bottom. sure can make a big pile of shavings and a tiny bit of fire wood out of 12 bucks of wood.