Minwax Wipe On Poly.

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
shastastan

shastastan

Member
Joined
Jan 15, 2014
Messages
326
Location
N CA
Hi all. This is my first post on this site. Really nice place. Thanks!

I've just started using Wipe On Poly (WOP). I started with satin on some dark cherry peppermills and salt shakers. I decided to do a final coat with gloss and it's okay but.... I turned a bocote cigar pen for myself and decided to give the WOP gloss a try. That was a mistake for me. It looked too plasticky (is that a word?) and was no where near as smooth as when I finished sanding to 1200 grit. It didn't even seem quite dry after sitting overnight. I ran it on the lathe and buffed it dry with a soft cloth. Then I went back to 600 grit and sanded through 1200. I then finished with Craft Supplies friction polish which is probably a Myland's clone. I like the finish now. Lesson learned: I don't like gloss wipe on poly for pens. Just saying... FWIW

I don't want to use CA glue because the smell is too toxic to me. I can barely stand it long enough to glue tubes into 4 pens' blanks. Guess my next try will be General WTF.
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
Was your WOP fresh? What was the temperature? Humidity?

I've used a lot of WOP and find that it works quite well for me. In fact, the 'daily carry' pen in my pocket was done with WOP (actually, a water-based gloss floor finish).

I did have a can of Minwax gloss WOP that went gummy on me. WOP is basically polyurethane with extra solvent (mineral spirits) added to make it thinner, and if the mineral spirits evaporates out, it becomes gummy and unusable. You can make up your own by starting with ordinary Minwax solvent-based poly, and adding mineral spirits. That should be cheaper - only mix as much as you can use for a reasonable future, and leave the undiluted poly in its original can which should seal better than the bottle that you store the WOP in.
 
Last edited:
monophoto said:
Was your WOP fresh? What was the temperature? Humidity?

I've used a lot of WOP and find that it works quite well for me. In fact, the 'daily carry' pen in my pocket was done with WOP (actually, a water-based gloss floor finish).

I did have a can of Minwax gloss WOP that went gummy on me. WOP is basically polyurethane with extra solvent (mineral spirits) added to make it thinner, and if the mineral spirits evaporates out, it becomes gummy and unusable. You can make up your own by starting with ordinary Minwax solvent-based poly, and adding mineral spirits. That should be cheaper - only mix as much as you can use for a reasonable future, and leave the undiluted poly in its original can which should seal better than the bottle that you store the WOP in.
Click to expand...

I bought it yesterday from Lowes, but as you said, there was a section that seemed gummy. What's interesting is that I had tried to find the gloss before, but no place had it (I live in a small town). I bought a small can of regular poly gloss and wiped a thin coat of it on with a blue shop towel. No problems with that. Next time I'll thin some out a bit and try a test. Do you apply it with the lathe running? Do you burn it in? Thanks.
 
Many will have allergic reactions, flu like symptoms from using regular CA. odorless removes the chemical in CA that causes this and some other chemical is added in its place. There is very low odor to no odor and it dries better than regular CA.
 
I just finished a cheese and cracker platter with Formbys Tung Oil Finish...no tung oil, but it has proven itself over 15 years of making kitchen products.
The odorless CA is the formulation we use in the hospital, I've been "stitched" up with it and can vouch for it's ability to hold skin together.
 
shastastan said:
Do you apply it with the lathe running? Do you burn it in? Thanks.
Click to expand...

I generally apply it using a bit of paper towel with the lathe running. But I don't 'burn it in', but rather just smooth it out and leave it wet. It cures fairly quickly, and depending on the temperature and humidity, can appear dry to the touch in an hour or so. But for the best finish, I prefer to let it cure overnight, buff it lightly with either 4/0 steel wool or white Scotchbrite, and then apply another coat.

WOP (the Minwax kind) is my go-to finish for bottle stoppers, expresso tampers and coffee scoops.
 
Many thanks for your help and tips. I do have a temp problem with my garage shop in the winter. We don't have much humidity here. It's similar to a high desert climate. This year is a drought though.

While the shop is partially warm, I apply the finish and then bring it into the house to dry in the bathroom. I usually have to make some type of jig stand for the item though. I guess I could make a little stand for the pen mandrel with the wood still on it and bring it in to day. I guess I should keep it horizontal the same as when it's on the lathe. I did this for other projects with good results but have never done it with pens. I have always used friction polish in the past and finished on the lathe.
 
shastastan said:
Many thanks for your help and tips. I do have a temp problem with my garage shop in the winter. We don't have much humidity here. It's similar to a high desert climate. This year is a drought though.

While the shop is partially warm, I apply the finish and then bring it into the house to dry in the bathroom. I usually have to make some type of jig stand for the item though. I guess I could make a little stand for the pen mandrel with the wood still on it and bring it in to day. I guess I should keep it horizontal the same as when it's on the lathe. I did this for other projects with good results but have never done it with pens. I have always used friction polish in the past and finished on the lathe.
Click to expand...

If you are going to build a stand to hold the blank while it is drying after using WOP you might want to try to get the blank to stand vertically - and then when (if) you put on a 2nd coat of WOP stand it up with the other end facing down.

WOP can "settle" a little while it dries. If your blank is horizontal you may end up with a final blank that is out of round (DAMHIK).
 
lyonsacc said:
shastastan said:
Many thanks for your help and tips. I do have a temp problem with my garage shop in the winter. We don't have much humidity here. It's similar to a high desert climate. This year is a drought though.

While the shop is partially warm, I apply the finish and then bring it into the house to dry in the bathroom. I usually have to make some type of jig stand for the item though. I guess I could make a little stand for the pen mandrel with the wood still on it and bring it in to day. I guess I should keep it horizontal the same as when it's on the lathe. I did this for other projects with good results but have never done it with pens. I have always used friction polish in the past and finished on the lathe.
Click to expand...

If you are going to build a stand to hold the blank while it is drying after using WOP you might want to try to get the blank to stand vertically - and then when (if) you put on a 2nd coat of WOP stand it up with the other end facing down.

WOP can "settle" a little while it dries. If your blank is horizontal you may end up with a final blank that is out of round (DAMHIK).
Click to expand...

Hmmm. I would not have thought that the amount that I put on was enough to sag, but I guess it's possible. I didn't have that problem with the cup I made, but it was vertical. No problem on making a vertical stand . For light stuff, my pin nailer sure is handy for that kind of thing.
 
I appreciate the concern about sag, but unless the application is very thick, I wouldn't expect there to be a serious sag problem. To achieve the best results with WOP, you want to apply many very thin coats, not a few thick coats.

That said, I think the concept of a vertical 'drying rack' makes sense for other reasons. If you are in a production mode, you will be producing several pens at a time. A drying rack that accommodates several pen bodies would be helpful, and to me, a vertical configuration makes more sense than some kind of 'tree-like' horizontal rack.

I'm thinking a block of wood with a number of posts to hold pen bodies vertically. The posts could be made from dowels. I would want to put something at the bottom of each dowel to hold the end of the pen bodies off of the base. Got to be careful here - my natural tendency would be to make the rack a major project itself and not just a tool to do a job.
 
Last edited:
monophoto said:
I appreciate the concern about sag, but unless the application is very thick, I wouldn't expect there to be a serious sag problem. To achieve the best results with WOP, you want to apply many very thin coats, not a few thick coats.

That said, I think the concept of a vertical 'drying rack' makes sense for other reasons. If you are in a production mode, you will be producing several pens at a time. A drying rack that accommodates several pen bodies would be helpful, and to me, a vertical configuration makes more sense than some kind of 'tree-like' horizontal rack.

I'm thinking a block of wood with a number of posts to hold pen bodies vertically. The posts could be made from dowels. I would want to put something at the bottom of each dowel to hold the end of the pen bodies off of the base. Got to be careful here - my natural tendency would be to make the rack a major project itself and not just a tool to do a job.
Click to expand...

Good tips, Thanks. I think that I'll just use a 4x4 scrap and drill a hole deep enough for the #2mt to fit about 2/3rds in. That way, I can just leave the pen bodies on the mandrel in case I want to sand between coats on the lathe.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom