First off this week I was asked about Burnishing Cream and why we don’t recommend using it between coats of lacquer. It’s quite simple really; Burnishing Cream isn’t meant to be a coating and in a perfect world none of it should be left behind after it has been used. But there is a danger that a small residue could be left behind and this would stop the next coat of lacquer from sticking. If your next intended coating is a wax or Friction Polish then it’s not such a problem, these finishes are far more forgiving and it won’t matter if a small amount has been left behind, they will still adhere to the coating beneath.

I was also asked about how to dispose of unused Food Safe Finish. The questioner was decanting some into a jar to use, but didn’t want to pour the unused oil back into the bottle for fear of contaminating it. I’d say that as long as the jar and the cloth/brush used were clean, and the timber was free of dust etc then it shouldn’t be a problem putting it back in the bottle. Alternatively, just keep it aside to use on your next piece. (If you should need to dispose of the Food Safe Finish then it should be treated like any other non-hazardous oil such as a cooking oil. Put it into a suitable container and take it to the council recycling centre where they should have a receptacle for oils.)

And finally for this week, can Cellulose Sanding Sealer be used underneath a polyurethane varnish? It’s not ideal, there’s always a danger when mixing brands and solvent bases, but we reckon this will be ok in most cases.We often say that the Cellulose Sanding Sealer is the most universal of our sealers and will work with any of our finishes that benefit from the use of one (which is pretty much all of them except the oils) and this should be no different.

And there I’ll leave you for this week. A couple of quick plugs, firstly of one our readers confessed this week that he didn’t know we had a YouTube channel; there’s a link to it in the box at the bottom of the page if you don’t know about it either. We also announced the dates and location for next year’s Woodturning Weekender, which will be on 1&2 August in West Malling, Kent.
I hope I might see you at Charnwood and either way I’ll see you back here next week.

Cheers