FINISH for WOODEN JEWELLERY

Email from Carmelo: 21st Nov 2022
Hi, I am an amatour wood jewellery maker and I need your recommendation to what polish to use on my finished pieces. Mainly, I use soft and hard wood including olive wood and western red cider. I prefer to use  polish or wax that gives high sheen finish.

Thank you in advance for your advice.

Regards
Carmelo
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My response: 21st Nov 2022
Hello Carmelo

I’m going to cheat here with my response as your message is almost identical to another one, replied a month or so ago…. Below is the info I sent to that person. She received the Aussie Oil from us and has replied that she loves the finish it gives on her jewellery.

Message sent 17th August.

White Shellac, Hard Shellac and Aussie Oil are all non-toxic and won’t darken the wood any more than wetting it with water, will enhance the burning/laser work. When dried will not show finger marks etc.

For what you are making I think the best would be the Aussie Oil. Putting a wax over any of the above will also give you finger marks.

For what it’s worth, there should be no reason to sand above 2000 grit as what you are doing is basically burnishing the wood and case hardening it thus stopping many finishes from being able to penetrate the surface of the wood and adhere to it properly.

All 3 products mentioned above should be able to penetrate and adhere however it still isn’t necessary to sand wood any higher than 2000 grit.

Wax and linseed will almost always show finger marks and often won’t fully harden on some woods hence your finger-marking problem.

Hope the above is of some help to you Carmelo.

Kind regards
Neil Ellis
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Hi Neil,