Fast finishing help needed!

[Steve Paxman]

I have a group of teenage boys, a youth group at church, who wants to get together and make their own wooden bow ties. Since I have a couple dozen of my own that I wear regularly to church, I was asked to facilitate. I will have the basic shape cut out of 1/8" stock ahead of time on the CNC to save time, but I want the boys to do sanding, finishing, assembly with the elastic strap, etc.

Here's my question. After sanding, they need some kind of finish. On mine, I use three or four coats of rattle can lacquer on each side, sanding before the final finish coat. Can't do that with all the boys because it takes a long time. What could we do for finishing in a very short amount of time? After finishing, some fabric gets wrapped around the middle and glued together with CA glue, and then a 3/4" elastic is slid under the fabric for the strap that goes around the neck.

I thought about shellac. Would that occasionally get tacky/sticky in humid weather later on?

I also thought about just paste wax. Is that a terrible idea?

I've seen people online use a paste wax and oil mix (linseed, or tung, or walnut) for finishing. Can that be applied, dried, and hand buffed in about 15 or 20 minutes? Or would that take a long time to really dry after the buffing?

I am open to ides - anything else I should think about? What about just a quick splash of Danish oil? Too long to dry enough to wrap fabric around the midle, etc?

Thanks in advance for the help!

[Roy Harding]

I use a LOT of shellac on my projects. I buy flakes and mix my own - which is what these observations are based on.

Although shellac does dry to the touch fast (and you can re-coat it very quickly if you're not sanding between coats), if you attempt to sand it before it has REALLY dried (say about 12 hours), you'll only gum up your sandpaper, and destroy the finish. I usually put one coat on at the end of a day, and then sand it the next morning (the first coat will raise the grain). After that, I can apply three, four, or sometimes five coats the second day - but I don't sand between coats. My top coat is usually a partial french polish - shellac padded on with BLO as a lubricant. It looks nice, but I don't think it would meet your time requirements. It does NOT hold up well under direct hot sunlight - so that's a consideration.

If you don't require sanding after the first coat, perhaps a water based polyurethane may be the answer. It'll be dry to the touch fairly quickly, and if the fabric wrapped around the middle will never be replaced, you may get away with it. For that matter, a SINGLE coat of shellac, with NO sanding may also work. In either case, the fabric will stick to the tie - despite how dry it may feel.

Most oil based finishes require significant time before they are dry.

Good luck to you, it sounds like a fun project for a bunch of boys.

[Wade Lippman]

I would just use some wipe on poly; but what on earth is a wooden bow tie?

[Steve Paxman]

I would just use some wipe on poly; but what on earth is a wooden bow tie?

https://www.google.com/search?q=wood...w=1024&bih=768

Here are examples. I make mine by just cutting the shape out of thin stock, sanding and finishing, and tying fabric around the middle.

Could I get away with a single coat of wipe on poly here in a single step?

[Jim Becker]

For this project, the shellac or the oil/wax would be my personal choice. For the latter, Tried and True has a wonderful product available that's made with linseed oil and bees wax. My wife's desk downstairs was finished with it back in 1998 and it's still looking great with just a wax touch-up about twice over the years. It provides a nice, soft glowing finish that's not glossy, but very rich looking, especially on close-grained woods like cherry.

Shellac is one of my favorite finishes for decorative items and something you should learn to use. It's never used "thick" and you don't work it like varnish. Dries very quickly. The downside is that it's glossy, although it can be rubbed out nicely when cured.

[John TenEyck]

Something like this: http://www.amazon.com/Renaissance-Micro-Crystalline-Wax-Polish-65/dp/B001DSZWEM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1459385421&sr=8-2&keywords=woodturning+finish


John