polycrylic for bowls?

[Randall J Cox]

Read where some have used polycrylic for a finish. Never used it myself, been using mostly semi gloss polyeurthane for bowls and everything else. Did try one bowl with Tung oil, ended up putting on 8-9 coats, lost count. Any body used polycrilic on turnings? All my bowls have been walnut so far (friend gave me a bunch of cut up trees). Any pros and cons? Randy

[Bill Howatt]

I used it on a vase type vessel of spalted birch about 2" dia x 7" tall. This was water-based gloss and I wanted to keep the whitish appearance of the wood.. Happy with the result. It is not polyurethane but it is I guess, what you could be called a plastic type finish. If you put on a lot of coats you would get the plastic appearance. Wiped on and then wiped off.
Haven't used it on a bowl though. I think another possible problem is if you buff your cured finish, it has to be done carefully since excessive heating will melt the finish.

Was your tung oil the pure tung oil or the polymerized version? I consider LV polymerized tung oil to be a good finish that is indeed tung oil and is easy to apply and doesn't take forever to dry and cure. However, being wiped on and wiped off you do need several coats. I usually am in the 3-4 coat range.

Best thing for you to do is give it a try since you have your own preferences about final appearance and ease of use.

[Richard Coers]

You will disappointed using it on walnut. It will have a cold, blue tint finish on it. Best to reserve water based for punky and white woods.

[Bill Howatt]

Richard makes a good point, dark wood is not ideal under a WB finish as a general rule. I was using "white" wood and generally despise the yellow cast oil-based tends to give on white wood.

[Randall J Cox]

ok, thanks for comments!