Sealing/Protecting wood scales

[rambus007]

Hi everyone. I'm just curious to know how one would protect wood scales after they've been cut, sanded, and polished. I've heard of something called CA but not sure what it is. I did watch a video on pen turning and the fellow applied 3 or 4 coats of some material (I think wax) before applying a final coat of sealer and it came out shiny and hard. Mind you in pen turning you've got heat from the lathe. I am going to be cutting my first scales soon and wanted to do all my research ahead of time.

Also can we use lucite for wedges? I was at Lee Valley today and noticed they have really colourful pearly pen blanks made out of lucite which I was hoping to use for wedges. I figure it would be cheaper than buying a sheet of acrylic. The pen blanks are $2.50 each (up to $4.50 for quality wood ones).

Also I've heard that some restorers have some great DVD's on restoring straight razors. I've already watched Brad's (Undream22) video series and found it very fascinating. It was that one video that go me hooked on restoring lol.

Anyhow any feedback on how to seal or protect wood scales would be much appreciated.

 

[azmark]

Aquanin put out a very detailed CA finishing project.

CA is basically just crazy glue.

Bill Ellis has a pretty cool CD Rom that is detailed well on every topic you would need to learn for restoring.

 

[superbleu]

Minwax Wipe on poly is probably the easiest to use.
CA is a bit of work, and you really need a respirator and googles to keep the fumes tolerable.

And yes you can use acrylic/lucite to make wedges.

Bill Ellis has a restoration CD, and he chimes in every now and then on the forums too.
http://www.billysblades.com/cd.html
He has some great info on his blog too.

 

[rambus007]

Thank you Asmark and Superbleu for your input.

 

[Robust2]

I used a few layers of Tung oil, finished with some Renaissance wax on my ebony scales (You can see them in my thread I posted yesterday), as I didn't want for the high-gloss CA look.

 

[rambus007]

I used a few layers of Tung oil, finished with some Renaissance wax on my ebony scales (You can see them in my thread I posted yesterday), as I didn't want for the high-gloss CA look.

Can I get Tung oil and Rennaissance wax at Home Depot?

 

[Robust2]

As I live in Belgium, I don't really know where you could get this sort of stuff. However, I do know that Lee Valley has a rebranded version of Renaissance wax called Conservator's Wax, and according to their website they also sell Tung oil. (btw, since the Tung oil is quite thick, and very slow to dry, I diluted it with some Mineral spirits)
If I'm not mistaken there is a Lee Valley store in Vancouver?

 

[thirdeye]

I used a few layers of Tung oil, finished with some Renaissance wax on my ebony scales (You can see them in my thread I posted yesterday), as I didn't want for the high-gloss CA look.

Great stuff. I just did a set of Birdseye Maple today, super fast drying, hard crystalline wax.

 

[netsurfr]

I used a few layers of Tung oil, finished with some Renaissance wax on my ebony scales (You can see them in my thread I posted yesterday), as I didn't want for the high-gloss CA look.

I like the understated look of this finish. The Renaissance wax does a nice job of protecting.

 

[rambus007]

As I live in Belgium, I don't really know where you could get this sort of stuff. However, I do know that Lee Valley has a rebranded version of Renaissance wax called Conservator's Wax, and according to their website they also sell Tung oil. (btw, since the Tung oil is quite thick, and very slow to dry, I diluted it with some Mineral spirits)
If I'm not mistaken there is a Lee Valley store in Vancouver?

Hi Bruno. Yes we have two in our area - one in Vancouver and one in Coquitlam which is an extra 15 min drive but is much bigger.

Thanks for informing me about the wax. You are right it's called Conservator's Wax and it sells for $11.80 (125ml or 4.4 oz can). In case anyone else wants to buy this product here's the link.

http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=20090&cat=1,190,42950

I think I'll go pick this up next time I'm in the area.