Cross Finish
My brother, Tom, is the "Cross Man"...a couple of years ago he had brought several work-in-progress crosses into the shop to finish as gifts. He accidently left an unifinished one. I kept it for him but later got his permission to finish it myself for a friend. It gave me a chance to try out some of Tom's expert techniques. |
|
The cross was made of Bolivian rosewood with an inlay of holly. |
|
The inlay was worked with a paring chisel. |
|
A 22.5° chamfer was made on exposed edges at the router table...then completed with a paring chisel. |
|
Tom loves to put a high polish on his work by using Micro Mesh® abrasives. I bought a set to try out...after a sanding with the DX90 at 400x I ran through a series of increasingly fine abrasives. |
|
The final finish came from a Tom technique...it starts with a beeswax, lemon and mineral oil mixture of The Natchez Solution Complete Furniture Care. |
|
The applicator of the Natchez Solution is a piece of beeswax. Using the wax chunk like a polissoir forces the wax into the pores.
|
|
After totally wetting the surfaces, the cross was allowed to dry for an hour, then the excess was cleaned off...and then allowed to dry thoroughly. |
|
Polishing was done with a soft Eastwood buffing pad. The wax rub in, dry, and polish cycle was completed several times until the cross was well polished. |
|
|