First Finish Layer - How does it look?

Here is the sanded piece with 1 coat of thinned shellac.

The exposure (brightness) is really turned up.  In person, the void looks simply like a dark spot.  This is our goal :).

Why choose shellac for the first finish coats?  That's easy.  It adds to the depth of the color of the finish layers.  Layers?  Why Layers?  Funny you should ask.  Layers are the part of the finish that 1) protects the wood from the environment 2) Enhances the color of the piece. 3) Increases the light that is bounced along the surface of the piece which enhances the color.

After the shellac comes the Poly finish.  Poly being the hardest and durable finish there is.  But poly can yellow after 50 years.  So it's a trade off.  In a Chair poly would keep everything very nicely.  Realistically  will you have your pen?  I hope so.  I believe in keeping things.  Passing them along for your children to sort out.  So, questions? Comments? Snarky rhetoric?  Let me know in comments.  Thanks Kristin

Maple Spalt Filled and Sanded

Here's the patch after being sanded.  And yes, it is lighter than the surrounding lines once the shellac is added as the first layer of finish it will darken as you will see in the next posting.  I sand with 300 grit sand paper at this stage.

In sand paper the higher number, the finer the sand paper.  So, 60 grit is extremely course and 600 grit is super fine.  For large scrapes a lower number is fine.  For finishing, I believe the finer the better.  After this I will sand in 600 grit.  After the first layer of finish 600 again.  One of the contingencies is once the first layer of finish is applied, the grain will robably be raised and feel like a course peach fuzz.  Not appealing in something you are going to hold in your hand for the next 10 years.  Once the first layer is sanded and the second layer is placed, 600 may be too course and I will either go to a 1400 grit or to steel wool.  The steel wool is called "4 Aught" which means "OOOO" (four zeros) of steel wool.  You can get this unsoapy steel wool at any hardware or home improvement store.      

Yup; Un-soapy steel wool.  You can't use the kitchen kind.  It isn't pretty.  Of course I have tried it thinking it wouldn't really make a difference.  It does.  It is course and now particles of siap smashed into the finish.  Don't do it.  Well, I wouldn't advise you to do it.  You can see if you want.  But you will probably have to sand off the finish you've put on and loose hours if not a whole day.    

Filling the Void and Finish

One of favorite types of wood to work with is a hardwood that has spalted.  Through the natural processes of breaking down the tree, fungi create lines and different textures with the wood.

One of the challenges is when a piece comes out due to the fragile nature of this wood.  Once the finish layers have been added, they are stable.  We of course, if there is a problem would replace a pen that had trouble later.

The section highlighted in the oval is where some of the wood came out.  In order to make a stable repair, we need to fill the void.  I prefer a water based filler like Wunderfill which you can get through Rockler's catalog.

This fill like many others comes in predetermined wood colors.  I have never had one that really matched well with whatever I was working on and end up modifying them in some way.  With this fill material, one can add water to make a slurry or a consistency like really thick gravy.  Once it is sloppy I had pigments to adjust the color to most closely resemble the area adjacent to it.

I work in the pigment and then press into the area that needs it.  Pigments are available from many different sources.  I get mine through a fine art supply company that way you have the most control over the color.

You can see on the right is a color called "Vine Black"  and on the left is an "Ivory Black".  Some where in the middle of these two blacks is the color with which to fill.  I am balancing the darkest color of the spalt lines with the color of the surrounding wood which is a nice brown beige. 

Now comes the waiting for the fill to dry.  You can figure on 24 hours before being ready to sand down.  It the patch feels cool in your hand then get it some more time. If you sand too early you will make mud on the sandpaper and have to re-do it.  The patch also will dry faster in a low humidity environment.  During a hot and humid summer it may take longer. 

In the end, I enjoy working on having a great finish.  A lot of people find it tedious and boring and try to get through it as quickly as possible.  There are even those who finish their pens with CA glue as the finish.  Which is fine for them but I prefer to finish  like a piece of fine furniture one that will both wear well and last long.