Buttons

[Neal Addy]

Here's an interesting question for ya. I've never considered putting one of my turnings through the washing machine before...

LOML is big into knitting. In fact, she's a diva at it. She knits some of the best sweaters I've ever seen.

A few days ago she asked me about turning some hand-made buttons for her. I thought it a great idea. Then I got to wondering about how well they would hold up in a washing machine.

Whaddayathink? Would any particular finish be best or let them go au naturale? I'd almost hate to use a poly on them, and most finishes I can think of probably wouldn't hold up in a wash cycle. I'd be in the dog house if I ruined one of her sweaters. They take her mucho hours to make!

[John Terefenko]

I answered this question on another forum that you posted it on but will also answer here to. I think wooded buttons would be too plain because you would have to use woods like mahagony or other woods that water has no effect on. If you use exotics for color then I say you have to encase in resin because the oils may leach into the material. With that said why not forgo the wood and try your hand at casting resin buttons. Easy to do. You can add many different colors and swirls. You can also encase coins and other medallions. If you are set on wooden buttons just go to any craft store and you will see an array of wooden buttons. I guess a marine varnish would be a good finish for them.

[joe greiner]

I'm assuming the knitting is of washable yarn. Couple ideas:

Make up some samples of various scrap materials with/without various finishes. They don't even have to be round, just approximately similar size and proportions. Put them in a mesh bag, and run through the washing cycle. Might be advisable to include a sample of the knitting (preferably white) to make sure there's no adverse effects.

Lignum vitae, unfinished, is used for bearings in marine railways (ship repair contraption), and tolerates submersion quite well. Not sure what the soap would do to it, though.

Just Googled [washing "wood buttons"]. Only looked at two pages of hits, but cold washing and air drying seem to be recommended; might not have anything to do with the wood, though.

Joe

[Neal Addy]

Thanks, JT. I'll check into marine varnish. I like the idea of casting resin buttons but I'm kinda stuck on using wood if possible. Casting them in resin might be just the trick too.

[Jonathon Spafford]

There was an article in last winters AAW journal on turning buttons... he suggested polyurethane, polymerized oil, and watco gel coat. They supposedly wash and dry the best.... there might be others though that would work, but these are the ones the author tried!