WEEK COMMENCING 23 MAY 2025

Hi

It’s been a very busy week, but I still managed to get out to watch Nathanael Griffiths in action at the Bury St Edmunds club on Monday. It was a great demo, very enjoyable and well received by the audience.

Nathanael was also in action later in the week, demonstrating in Shropshire, and he’ll be in Manchester next week and at Yandles in Somerset on Saturday 5 April taking part in their Masters of the Lathe event.

I think we’ll tie him to his bench when he gets back!

I often cover sanding sealers in the newsletter, aiming to answer some of the many questions we receive about them. Despite this, some people still wonder about the purpose and wisdom of using them.

Unless you’re using an oil finish, it’s always best practice to apply a sanding sealer. The agent inside the sealer fills the pores in the wood, and it is designed to be easy to sand once dry. When using lacquer as a top coat, it is possible to skip the sealer and instead apply an extra coat or two of lacquer to fill the pores…

However, a lacquer won’t seal the surface as quickly or efficiently, and it’s much harder (and therefore more difficult to sand back) afterward.

So, best practice is always to use a sanding sealer—it really does make the job easier!

What are the differences between finishing stained wood and ‘plain’ wood?

Not many, really. We treat stained wood as if it’s still bare. Although the colour has been changed, there isn’t a true coating, so in many ways, the usual finishing techniques apply.

That said, care must be taken to avoid reactivating the stain and causing it to run—this is an even bigger issue if you have more than one colour, as they can blend into a murky brown mess!

It’s easy to avoid: simply use one of our spray sealers and lacquers, or one of the oil finishes. The spray finishes don’t require a brush or direct contact with the stain, so they won’t disturb it. The oil finishes use a different solvent, which won’t affect the stain.

And finally, for this week, how do you get a shine on Ebonising Lacquer, especially when using Rainbow Wax on top of it?

The best way is to use Burnishing Cream on the Ebonising Lacquer and let the shine from this serve as the base. (Ebonising Lacquer is designed to have a satin finish, but the Burnishing Cream does a great job of bringing out a glossy finish!)

Apply the Rainbow Wax afterwards, and use Reducer or Airbrush Cleaner to remove any excess. You could apply an Acrylic Gloss Lacquer over this, but my preference would be to use a thin coat of Hard Wax Oil. This will seal the wax in and enhance the depth of the gloss.

Well, that’s all my ramblings for this week! Nathanael isn’t the only one out and about, I’ll be at Diss Woodturning Club on Friday. Not quite as far to travel, but I’m looking forward to a return visit there and seeing everyone.
And I’ll be back again here next week.

All the best

Terry