# Finish for bottle stoppers



## rscott (Dec 1, 2009)

Any advice on the finish for wine bottle stoppers? I have turned a dozen or so bowls and a few wine bottle coasters, but have only finished them with Watco Butcher Block Oil.


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## slatron25 (Dec 18, 2007)

I've started using Hut's Crystal Coat for some small projects. I may work well for stoppers.


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## rscott (Dec 1, 2009)

*Finish fo wine bottle stopper*

Thanks. Do you just put it on and polish while spinning on lathe? Does that become the final polish/finish?


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## slatron25 (Dec 18, 2007)

Yes. For more open grain woods the instructions say to use a sander sealer first. It can also be polished off the lathe with a lamb's wool buffing wheel.


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## b00kemdano (Feb 10, 2009)

I have a boatload of wine bottle stoppers, and I've tried a few different finishes. I've settled on this: sand on the lathe to 25000 with micromesh, blow off dust with air hose, wet it with lacquer, run a dry paper towel over it to removed excess lacquer, then use two coats of Shellawax friction polish. 

That leaves me with a nice shiny finish and it's pretty tough. My first stopper that I did like this has been in quite a few "test" wine bottles over the last few months and it still looks great.


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## thekctermite (Dec 23, 2007)

I use Mylands friction polish on my stoppers when they're oily woods like cocobolo or bocote. Mylands works better than Hut in my opinion...After trying Mylands my Hut friction polish got tossed out. Either will work and perform just fine though.

Tung oil is another good option that works well on non-oily domestic woods. I've had great success using Waterlox, which is a polymerized tung oil. Few finishes are tougher that Waterlox. It doesn't work very well on oily woods like cocobolo and bocote though.


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## rscott (Dec 1, 2009)

*Polyurethane finish on stoppers?*

Does anyone recommend a simple gloss polyurethane finish?


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## Dvoigt (Dec 6, 2007)

I have only done a handful of stoppers some with friction wax and others with a CA finish. I perfer the CA for a more durable higher gloss look.


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## firehawkmph (Apr 26, 2008)

rscott said:


> Does anyone recommend a simple gloss polyurethane finish?


That would work fine. I did a bunch like that and then switched over to lacquer, only because it dries that much faster. I wipe it on while it is still on the lathe. You can put on 3 or 4 coats in a minute or two. After letting it dry for a few more minutes, I'll buff it on a beale three wheel setup. 
Mike Hawkins


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## rscott (Dec 1, 2009)

*Lacquer?*

Would Deft spray on lacquer (sanding sealer) work the same way? Do you sand between coats?


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## john lucas (Sep 18, 2007)

I do the same as Mike. Lacquer thinned a little less than 50/50 with lacquer thinner. 2 or 3 coats rubbed in while it's spinning slow and spin it fast and buff and dry it with a bounty paper towel. Some woods look just fine like this and some need buffing.


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## firehawkmph (Apr 26, 2008)

Rs,
The spray stuff works fine. That's what I used to use all the time. Some was lacquer, some was polyurethane. I would spray a wet spot on a small piece of cloth and then rub it on. 
Mike Hawkins


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