# Anyone have advice on "Burnishing Finish""?



## Rjw5780 (Feb 18, 2014)

I'm currently smack dab in the middle of building two large coffee tables with matching end tables constructed of 100% solid Walnut. I want to produce different fishes for each set of tables. One set I already know how I'm going to finish, but I would like to finish the other set in a more unique way than what's already out there. I'm familiar with many different finishing techniques and the world of finishing is a VAST sea of literally thousands of combinations producing thousands of different results, but I have always been interested in "Burnished Finishes" but have yet to really master any of the 100 techniques that seem to qualify as actually "Burnishing".

Please excuse the lack of clarity, as I always forget to grab my good camera and bring it with me into the shop and am too lazy to walk inside the house to get it. I'm also in the process of an entire garage remodel into a proper shop. More like a studio as it's only 15' x 22' but it's big enough for now. Here are half of the 5/4 boards, the other half are already clamped into first table top in the backround, and some are scattered around. 








I was thinking toning, then sealing, then toning again, then top coat.

There seem to be A LOT of different methods, and I know everyone has their own personal preference so can some of you guys fill me in as what are some of the best ways to do this, as I want to produce a very "High End" look to my finish.

And question #2: I recently watched a video of a guy finishing a walnut slab table. His first step (after danding obviously), was adding oil, and sanding it "into" the grain with an ROS. Is this recomended? I'm not sure what tyep odf oil it was or if it was tinted at all, but the results were very impressive. Any ideas fellow Lumber Junkies?

*Note, pleas share if anyone has a great way they like to finish Walnut, even if it has nothing to do with Burnishing. I'm always interested in trying different and new (new to me anyway) techniques.

Thanks,


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## wapakfred (Jul 29, 2011)

I wouldn't sand it in with an ROS (at least not an electric one) because that can really screw up an ROS. Maybe the air powered jobs are capable (don't know, don't have one) but a shop ROS will almost certainly be ruined after it gets BLO soaked into the pad and the innards where the air blows. That said, I have slurry sanded with both BLO as well as danish oil (BLO/MS/Varnish) and really like the way it comes out. It's work, and it takes a while since you apply, wait, then repeat. I use wet/dry paper on a wood block, and almost always top coat it with wiping varnish. But I've never done it on walnut….my favorite on it is just a coat of thinned BLO to get it dark, and then top coat with whatever the project calls for (typically a varnish). Another one I like, but use less, is to give it a coat of garnet shellac. That in turn gets top coated with something I consider appropriate for use.


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## gfadvm (Jan 13, 2011)

I have sanded walnut with BLO using an electric ROS to fill the pores and it worked very well. Use sanding discs that do not have any holes in them and your sander won't be harmed.


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## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

You could go old school Roubo style with a polissoir (reed burnisher) and wax as described here


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## Rjw5780 (Feb 18, 2014)

Lumber joe I actually have been interested in buyinh one of these tools for awjile now. Thanks for the hookup. That little tool would be great for smaller applications, but I'm producing 22" x 36" table tops and I think this process would take a very long time. I will surely try it on at least one of the projects though, just to see the the time and extra effort are worth the result, therefor justifying maybe a higher sticker price.

Now Joe, is this considered "Burnishing"? I have read many different varieties in how this is accomplished. From my understanding, you finish the wood in whatever method u choose, and THEN you burnish the completely cured finish….anyone? anyone???

Where are you Mr Jinx? I know you probably have some knowledge in this…
Thanks


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## camps764 (Dec 9, 2011)

I believe Paul - Canadian Woodworks - on LJ's does burnished finishes on his rocking chairs. I would reach out to him or scope out his blogs and see how he does it.

I think he sands them to a super high grit, and then uses a wipe on oil/poly blend.


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## camps764 (Dec 9, 2011)

Just re-read your post above….

Sanding the oil into the wood is a way to fill the grain. Guitar makers do this pretty often before they apply a finish to get a smooth surface and to close the pores off.

I did it on my telecaster using Minwax antique oil. I hand sanded it with a sanding block. It takes a while. I had to apply the oil, sand, wipe it off, let it cure for 24 hours….apply the oil, sand, wipe it off, let if cure…and repeat about 4 times.


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## oldnovice (Mar 7, 2009)

I believe that *General Finishes* has a product that along with very fine sandpaper, used manually, will do a decent burnishing job too. I remember seeing an article of a world glove stand finished using GF products for burnishing.


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## Tim457 (Jan 11, 2013)

Rob, in the article Joe linked, there is a video of Don Williams on using it and he says it does burnish and fill the grain.

The biggest thing that struck me watching it is that would tire your wrist very quickly from the vertical angle of the handle. I could be wrong though. A different handle could obviously be made.


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## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

Burnishing happens to wood fibers. If you have a film building finish, you aren't burnishing, but buffing/polishing. With burnishing you are changing the cellular structure of the wood. It removes the softer wood cells and further compresses the fibers to the adjacent wall of harder cells.

The roubu technique uses reeds to remove the soft cells and compress the hard ones. Wax was used but this could also be done with an oil finish. As long as there is no film and you are able to compress the actual wood fibers, you can burnish.


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## oldnovice (Mar 7, 2009)

*Tim*, I agree with you as watching the video made my carpal tunnel start to hurt.
I would think that something with a horizontal handle, like a pushblock, would be easier/better for both the wood and the hands


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## TheWoodenOyster (Feb 6, 2013)

That video is cool. I've never seen anything like that. Reminds you of how many variations of finishing there are out there.

The only thing that I would say I have ever "burnished" was a tobacco pipe. The burnishing just consisted of sanding aggressively with 1500 sandpaper. I then just coated the pipe in beeswax and rubbed it out with very firm pressure. At the time, I had no idea what I was doing, as it was my first woodworking project ever. I just saw that the pipe was looking and feeling better the more I sanded and the higher I went in grit, so I just kept on going. Don't know how applicable that would be for a coffee table though. It'd be a lot of work


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## mantwi (Mar 17, 2013)

I've seen videos of Japanese woodworkers using this technique before applying the finish and assumed it was to eliminate sanding while still attaining a very smooth surface. Any thing that eliminates sanding is a major advantage in my opinion. I hate sanding, hate the dust it generates, hate the process, in short I hate sanding and will be getting, making or otherwise obtaining a burnisher of this type post haste. Thanks for the post here, it filled in the gaps by providing details I could only guess about before.


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## Rjw5780 (Feb 18, 2014)

Lumber Joe, so as long as I don't "build up" a finish, I should be able to burnish it sounds like. Otherwise I'd just be "rubbing out" a finish. It seems there is a very fine line, and a gray area when it comes to burnishing vs polishing. Is it pretty much the same effect in the end? Is burnishing done to only eliminate some sanding? Or is it a result unlike any other? In other words…Is to burnish just another way to end up with a poilshed finish?

A little update:
I used some scrap to experiment, and found by rubbing a pice of walnut over antother piece also somewhat gives the burnishing effect. Well, it lays down the grain to make it flat. I've read that burnishing is actually in some circles a very undesireable effect? I guess if you do not want a high poilish…but Lumber joe, I watched a few videos that people are saying to burnish wood, you are supposed to do it AFTER you finish it. But I believe you are correct, this is to lay down the fibers, so if you already have a cured finish, you're really just essentially "rubbing out your finish."

This is all very complex, confusing, and sometimes frustrating. But I love it. Finishing is by far, as I'm sure is with many of you, my favorite part of the entire process.


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## Wildwood (Jul 22, 2012)

While burnishing wood with oil or wax sounds exciting question the durability of these types of finish. Wax does not provide any protection for the wood. Tung oil is the only penetrating finish that does offer some protection. You will need to re-apply wax and Tung oil on a regular basis.

Think rubbing out a finish lot easier and faster once you learn how. I learned to rub out film finishes, lacquer, shellac, and varnish with mineral oil or water and pumice mixed into a paste. Used a felt chalk board eraser, and wiped hard with an old tee-shirt to wipe down surface. Never felt the need to using rotten stone after pumice. Before rubbing out a finish, your finish must cure first. That might add days to weeks before begining the process.

I always wet sanded using dish washing soap & water with either quality 400 or 600 silicon carbide sandpaper to get rid of dust nibs & even out the surface.

I stopped using pumice to rub out a finish instead prefer to wet sand and polish using micromesh these days. 
Today there are even easier ways to rub out your favorite finish.


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## Rjw5780 (Feb 18, 2014)

Wildwood I've hear Arborlite is excellent for reubbing out a finish Wildwood…but expensive.I will take a look at vids. Thanks! So burnishing it seems to me, is pretty much just like rubbing out a finish WITHOUT a finish? Or is building up a finish then rubbing it all the way down? Very confusing. Just looking for a definitive burnish method. Maybe it is all just personal preference.

Thanks for all the replies. Lots of advice tp consider. Don't wanna rush and destroy 500 bucks worth of Walnut!!!


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## Earlextech (Jan 13, 2011)

I found this on another blog I follow. Not my words, but well spoken.

"However, to be more generic…Per WIKIpedia, the online encyclopedia burnishing comes from other crafts, pottery, silversmiths, goldsmiths, and so forth. A surface, like gold or unfired pottery, is rubbed with a piece of bone, very hard wood, or soft stone. It is my understanding that with gold leaf applied over base material (bronze? wood?), a process called gilding, the burnishing does something to the surface of the gold to make the thin surface of the gold metal 'flow' over the joints of the gold leaf to make the joins invisible.

Carvers, I think, will use burnishing more often than other woodworkers. When I did more main stream woodworking (furniture making) burnished wood was a very undesirable effect; it was to be avoided at all costs.

Burnishing wood will slightly alter the wood surface. The surface of wood is made up of dried and collapsed cell walls from the living tree. (a normal living tree cell is mostly water, which is removed in drying of lumber.) As you burnish, the softer material of the cell walls will rub off, leaving the harder cellulose fibre structure. This cellulose structure is further compressed and joined to other cell wall similarly compressed and altered.

The overall effect is to create a hard cellulose barrier against any dye, or finish absorption by the surface of the wood. That is why experts claim when you sand raw wood beyond 320 grit sandpaper, you are not sanding and are burnishing the wood. Some people like that finish effect and use it to their advantage.

Others claim you apply a couple of light coats of finish, then sand with 400 grit and progressively up to 1000 grit to the thin layers of finish, which flattens and burnishes the finish (not the wood) and this has a different look to the finish. The burnished finish look is very desirable to mainstream woodworkers. Most mainstream woodworkers become totally shocked when someone mentions they sand raw wood beyond 320 grit; it is that ingrained into the psychic of the mainstream woodworker.

The claim is that burnished finish gives the wood a depth of shine; like a mirror. Burnished raw wood with a clear acrylic finish, (glaze, polycrylic, many water-borne finishes) just sits on top of the wood and acts like a clear protective coating like an automotive clear coat; a different finishing effect. Again, burnished wood is used by some for effect.

French polish with shellac is a form of burnishing the finish on very expensive furniture, IMHO.

I did read somewhere that the act of burnishing creates mini-areas of local heat as you burnish. That is how the cellulose fibres get joined. I cannot comment on that. But the word 'burn' is in there and been there for a long, long time.'


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## crank49 (Apr 7, 2010)

My dad was a hardwood floor finisher from 1932 to 1982. Over the course of that career he learned and used many techniques. Some passed to him by others, some he created on his own.

One was a kind of burnishing using a buffing machine, bee's wax and coarse burlap. I can see now, after having read the Schwartz article that he was actually burnishing the Oak. He would put a very stiff bristle buffing pad on his buffer and set it down on top of a burlap sack that had a small quantity of bee's wax melted into it. 
The buffer he was using was a very large powerful, 240 volt machine with a 15" diameter pad and a handle like a lawnmower. I think it was made by a company named Clark, or possibly American. 
Anyway, he used this method to get a polished mirror like sheen on a floor without the use of a film finish. It was truly beautiful and very durable.


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## Wildwood (Jul 22, 2012)

These days mostly a woodturner, and burnish wood riding tool bevel, problem with that is burnished wood gives you shinny spots definitely noticeable if apply a film or penetrating finish. So sand lightly to remove burnished areas so surface accepts finish evenly.

Japanese doll turner often sand with reed grass (320 grit) before painting their dolls. Have only seen them use soft woods, and very sharp tools. Today not uncommon to see them use sandpaper too!

Bevel on a carver's tool will also burnish wood. Sanding is not an option in many cases for so many reasons. Doubt they will resort to burnishing with any wax. Getting wax out of detail carvings an arduous task. Because of those details on a carving many resort to air brushes, or other spraying methods, to apply a finish or wipe on products.

For years made blanket and toy chest. If wanted a furniture finish might rub out the finish by hand or just finish and apply wax. Gave up on using pumice because of the mess & clean up. You might find white powder in joints if did not remove all that pumice. Found it easier and less time to wet sand to higher grit silicon carbide paper. On turnings will often use micromesh to sand and polish today.

I had never heard of ABRALON silicon carbide disc made by Mirka before. You can wet sand to get rid of dust nibs and even out the surface with your ROS in not much time. Talk about a time saver. Grits start at 180, 360, 500, 1,000, 2,000, 4,000, so nice to have even if do not want to rub out a fiish.

http://www.mirka-usa.com/products/brands/abralon.htm

Micromesh disc less expensive option also available for your ROS, you can buy an assortment pack of nine for only $16.75. Just rinse with and reuse.

http://www.sisweb.com/micromesh/mmr_discs.htm

There are less expensive stearate disc options available too from many vendors. Never used them for wet sanding.

http://www.woodworkingshop.com


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## Rjw5780 (Feb 18, 2014)

ABRALON! haha I knew it was something like that. This method seems to produce one of the nicest fineshes as far as high gloss/sheen goes. I'll try it out on test piece sometime soon, my table is in NO RUSH to be messed up by an over anxious novice woodworker….


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## nineiron (Sep 28, 2013)

Hi I have achieved a burnished finish by first hand sanding with the saw dust from the original cutting.
First power sand down to 800 .second hand sand with the sawdust and webrax. lastley using a slow moving fresh calico mop impregnated with BEES wax. This a hell of a lot of work, but if you really want a burnished finnish its the only way to go. I know this works ,having done some lazy susans with this method.[ English Oak and Beech].


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## OSU55 (Dec 14, 2012)

Since these are tables I would think you would want durability. I agree with the other posts burnishing happens to the wood cells, and not with a film finish, and will not be very durable. I would think you want a film finish to provide durability. Perhaps you want the tops with a super smooth fully filled "piano" finish? More information about what you want to end up with would help with recommendations.

Walnut needs to be stained or dyed for three reasons. If steamed it has a gray cast, best "colored" out of the wood, light sapwood needs to be colored closer to the rest of the wood, and walnut will lighten over time, eventually turning tan. I prefer to use Transtint dyes to color wood.


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## Rjw5780 (Feb 18, 2014)

Osus yeah I have actually been researching this and I def agree that a burnish finish while looking beautiful, gets scrathed way to easy…and I actually spoke to jeff henning(I think that's his name] of homestead finishes and on his recommendation, I'll be using dark brown mahogany to tone the wood. I am aware of the steaming and gray color being an issue. I havee also been thinking about a 3 layer coloring process. I've read one can lay down a dye of xhoice as first coat, then a pigment or wiping sstain, and then a glaze (each layer being seperated by shellac…is therea bbetter technique you're aware if? Thanks


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## rad457 (Jun 15, 2013)

For me all I do is grab a mitt of shavings and use them to polish the wood after a Scrapper or smoother finish, don't like sand paper! works great on the lathe too. Seal it with some polish and you are done.


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