General Finishes

A chair that feels customly designed for each person who sits in it. That is what I set out to do when making this chair. The back braces flex and pivot to perfectly match the curve of anyone's back. The arm rest's cove perfectly raps anyone's arm. I finished this chair with a home mixed wiping varnish. I mixed 1/3 Boiled Linseed Oil, 1/3 Clear Gloss Poly, and 1/3 Mineral spirits. I wiped the first coat on and was amazed at how much the Curly Maple and Sapele came to life. The wood eagerly soaked up the first coat so there was no need to wipe off any finish.

A baseball bat's sole purpose for existing is to hit balls traveling upwards of 100 mph... but what if that wasn't the case? That is the question that drove me to design this bat. I wanted to take a fully utilitarian tool and turn it into a work of art. Made up of 577 pieces, this bat definitely fits that description. It is made of Padauk, Curly Maple, Purple Heart, and Wenge. I took care to sand up to 600 grit and then burnish with steel wool until the wood shined. I wanted to show this piece off so I opted for a high gloss finish. I used Waterlox original.

My goal for this sculpture was to contrast the traditional form that wood comes in. I wanted to show that wood could be light and fluid while still being strong enough to suports itself. Ribbon has 150 separate pieces and is made of Walnut, Maple, and Lacewood. I loved the ironic nature of using lacewood to make a ribbon. I sanded this piece up to 320 grit and then polished it with steel wool. I wanted to allow the piece to speak for itself so I went with a matte finish. I used 3 coats of wipe on poly sanding in between coats.

This project was conceived in order to demonstrate segmented turning on a small scale. This was the most complicated piece I had ever made at the time. Because of this I decided that it deserved a fantastic finish. I opted for a high gloss polyurethane to bring out the beauty of the wood. Before finishing I sanded up to 600 grit and burnished with steel wool. The first three coats I used were a mix of 50% boiled linseed oil and 50% High gloss Polyurethane.