WEEK COMMENCING 2 FEBRUARY 2025

Hi

Thank you to everyone who replied about Nathanael’s Newsletter last week, and so positively too. We’re enjoying having him here—he’s certainly keeping us on our toes, and having him looking at things through a new pair of eyes has certainly led to some improved efficiencies here.
He’s also taken over answering some of the questions that come in as well, which has been a great help. (And no, he’s not looking over my shoulder as I type this!)

A question came in this month from a turner who had made a bowl, and coated it with an oil, and asking what to put on top of that. They wanted a brighter, glossier finish, but weren’t keen on using a wax, as it might clog in the voids and crevices of the wood.
Sadly, the options are limited. Oils can be fussy creatures, and they don’t really like anything else being applied on top of them except more of the same oil, or, ironically, wax.

The only real suggestion we could make was to keep applying more coats of the wax, smoothing down gently between each coat, to bring the finish to a gloss.

That, and to say that Hard Wax Oil would have been a better choice as a finish, as it builds to a gloss much quicker.

Another oil question came in, this time asking if our Tung Oil is ‘pure’ or ‘raw,’ as it doesn’t specify on the label.

While oils like Linseed Oil come in various forms—raw or boiled being the most common—there is only one type of Tung Oil. And that’s exactly what ours is: nothing added, nothing taken away. We’ve never felt the need to label it as “pure,” because if we added anything to it, it would no longer be Tung Oil. But perhaps we’ll reconsider the label in the future.

A trickier question came in from someone finishing a front door. They’d used a wood preserver on it first (mistakenly in my opinion), and wanted to apply an oil on top.

The wood preserver wasn’t ours—we don’t make one—so it was very difficult to offer any advice, as we couldn’t know what effect the preserver had had. The can said it could act as a primer, which suggested it had formed a seal on the surface, which would likely mean that an oil could struggle to adhere to it. Oils need to soak in to do their job, and the preserver would most likely prevent this.

All we could suggest was a wax finish, with Microcrystalline Wax being the best option. The door is in a porch, so it’s protected from all but the worst weather. Some maintenance will be required, but hopefully not too much.

We’ve mentioned our livestream demo to Norway a couple of times. I’m pleased to say that it went very well, our thanks to our friends at Gustavsen for hosting us, and for relaying the questions and comments.
We’re still getting used to the livestream set-up, but we’re getting there.

I hope you have a great week, I’ll see you same time, same place next Friday.

All the best

Terry