I posted this to the finishing section, but think it may have got lost. Does anyone have advice on the best way to achieve a lasting high gloss finish on wooden pens. I saw some beautiful work in Hawaii, in curly koa which has a refractile deep grain. The maker held his proprietary secrets close to his chest and would not share much with me. He said the pens were dipped in lacquer and not rubbed out or polished. Anyone with experience dipping pens? The cylinders had to have the ends taped off to prevent the lacquer from entering the tubes. How were they held to dry? Some product was used to prevent ‘pinholes” in the lacquer. I think this is like “orange peel” The results were far better than PPP wax or HUT wax and were also much better than Mylands friction polish. Thanks for the help.
Jay
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There was an article in the Home Shop Machinist magazine about ten years ago on building a skeleton clock. All the parts were visible, so quite a bit of care was taken with the appearance. All the brass parts were finished by dipping them in a highly thinned lacquer and the excess was removed by centrifugal force. The author called it slinging off the excess.
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