Wooden Whistle Makers - to finish or not to finish?

[Feadoggie]

I have been making wooden whistles lately and have been experimenting with treatments for the wood to preserve the shine and beauty of the wood. There are a lot of options available these days, probably too many to try myself. Some seem reasonable. Some seem less reasonable for a whistle. I thought I'd reach out for the opinions of others.

Without getting into all the particulars or results of my trials thus far I thought I would ask the other makers that post here just what they have used as a finish for their wooden whistles - or if they prefer to leave them natural.

Local woodworker and luthier friends all seem to have their favorite finishes. And while french polishing may work for a fiddle, I have not found it as useful on a whistle. Pen turners have suggested CA glue or epoxy as a coating that can be buffed to a high polish. That might work for a three inch long piece of wood on a pen but it seems a lot less workable on a twelve inch long whistle. I've been through water and oil based polyurethanes, wax/shellac mixtures, tung and linseed oil and some others. Still have not found a winner.

I am also working on polymer infusion and that seems promising for some timbers at this stage. But it is still too early to be able to say much on the durability of that method.

So if you have a favorite finish I'd like to hear what it is and how you go about it, if you don't mind sharing.

Thanks in advance.

Feadoggie

[brewerpaul]

I use this on my whistles:
http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/141049 ... -coat.aspx
I apply it to the wood while it's spinning on the lathe. A small amount is enough, on a piece of an old white t-shirt. As it begins to dry, which is pretty fast, I apply more pressure and the friction heat produces a very nice shine. This is a form of French polish. On wood with a very smooth surface, this is all I use.
Some woods don't turn or sand to a completely smooth surface eg oak, or have grain that can raise easily eg maple. For these I use:
http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/814153 ... ealer.aspx . It's also good for some woods with a high oil content, like olivewood, which sometimes keeps the other finish from adhering. I apply this while the wood is on the lathe but not rotating. When this dries, also pretty quick, I sand it as it spins on the lathe. Check it and apply more as needed. Once I have a nice smooth finish, I apply the Crystal Coat.
Just before I ship the whistles, I apply a coat of this, and buff:
http://www.minwax.com/wood-products/spe ... ishing-wax
I'm open to other suggestions.

[Feadoggie]

Thanks, Paul.

As it happens, I brought home a bottle Crystal Coat this afternoon from Woodcraft. So that is one of the next trials I will attempt. We'll see how that goes. Hope I like it. It seems similar to other friction polishes I have used in that it is a mixture of lac/wax/oils which builds and turns solid with the heat from polishing as the tube spins on the lathe. It seems much like a french polish, which I have used on fiddles for decades, except that it comes pre-mixed in a bottle. The others I have tried go cloudy fairly quickly which may be the wax going soft again from the heat of the fingers playing the whistle. The folks at Woodcraft like it though. They wouldn't let me out of the store without buying it. Ha ha ha!

Yes, some very nice woods show a lot of open grain pores. I don't like filling grain with layers of finish where you have to sand most of it off as the pores fill. On guitars and the like I would use a sanding sealer, then a grain filler. And then I would cover that with several coats of lacquer. That seem like overkill for a whistle. And it requires a lot of sanding, lots of curing, lots of time.

I have always used paste type grain fillers on stringed instruments and furniture pieces to level the grain. It is not a happy product to use on a small whistle, too thick. So I am trying water based grain fillers like Aqua Coat to accomplish that. Looks promising so far.

And having applied the grain filler, I need to cover it with some sort of finish. So that is what got me to this point, asking for the experience of others.

I have been leaving the very hard and the oily woods unfinished at this point. But looking at the open pores I would like to even up the surface on some of those. So maybe I will go the sanding sealer route on those. Those types of woods also won't be good candidates for polymer infusion. They really don't need it anyway.

Thanks for sharing, Paul. I'll let you know if I come up with anything encouraging.

Feadoggie

[Tunborough]

I haven't tried wooden whistles, but I have used pure tung oil on maple, cedar and oak with pleasing results. By applying very thin layers, and buffing out each layer when it's almost dry, I've produced a subtle, medium-gloss finish that brings out the chatoyance of the grain. Takes a lot of layers, and a lot of patience, but it's an incredibly forgiving process.

[chas]

On dense oily woods, I use Renaissance wax on the outside and almond oil on the inside.

On woods that are wont to absorb water (dogwood, e. g.) I dip them in linseed oil, let them drip dry for an hour or two, then wipe them down.

[OBrien]

I use pure tung oil on the outside of all of my wooden whistles, with pleasing results. Tung oil is good because it's a natural, food-safe oil that penetrates the wood and hardens. On the inside, almond oil with a little vitamin E to prevent oxidation.

[syn whistles]

CA is a good option for those woods that do not take on a natural polish.

[Tunborough]

I use pure tung oil on the outside of all of my wooden whistles, with pleasing results. Tung oil is good because it's a natural, food-safe oil that penetrates the wood and hardens. On the inside, almond oil with a little vitamin E to prevent oxidation.

What technique do you use to bring out that shine?

[OBrien]

The number of coats depends on the type of wood and how much oil it absorbs, but basically the same technique you mentioned: several coats, with buffing after each. For the first couple of coats, I leave a thick coating on for about half a day, wipe it off leaving it wet and apply some more. I find it absorbs better if early coats are covered when still wet. Then, depending on the wood, after two or three thick wet coats, with wiping, I will apply thin coats with buffing after they dry.

[Feadoggie]

Thanks to everyone for your input. The experiments on my part will continue.

Feadoggie