Think of the cellulose wall structures of the cells as a bunch of rooms in a building. When you cut them off you end up with shiny floors and cut off walls. Burnishing wipes out the half cut walls, leaving only the flat floors. You might find that grain orientation maks a difference when there are no flat floors. Hope I didn't loose you there.
@MrPod1511 ай бұрын
I used shavings and sawdust to burnish when an apprentice! Now I have a little more experience and expertise (40+years) I use my cherished burnishing bars and rods. Depending on the species and grain I use either Mahogany, Oak, Beech or Ebony. I would recommend not burnishing before staining or colouring as closed pores prevent any depth to your finish. I recommend a therapeutic practice to decide on the finish required before staining shellacking varnishing or French polish. Enjoy your your new skill.
@michaeldoto467311 ай бұрын
I think we need to divide this into two categories: burnishing and polishing. Polishing uses an abrasive compound ranging in grit size sizes from course to extremely fine. The finer the grit, the higher the reflective properties thus giving it a shine or polished appearance. Burnishing accomplishes the same end goal, but does not use an abrasive. Rather, burnishing compresses the surface fibers with a material equal to or harder than material to be burnished. This is why bone, stone, steel, or wood fibers (brown paper) all work to burnish wood. As the surface is continuously compressed, it’s reducing surface scratches and imperfections until it reaches a point where it’s surface takes on a reflective appearance. I think this is why the terms polishing and burnishing have become synonymous-they achieve the same end result (within reason) although by different methods. I hope this makes sense.
@RavensViewStudio11 ай бұрын
Good vid mate. I always use brown paper before I add a finish... but, I also use it to burnish up after using an oil. Adds to the shine quite nicely. Jay
@vincenthunter46511 ай бұрын
Always learn something from you. You're a good teacher. Thanks, Shawn.
@CNKXU111 ай бұрын
Pecancrete. Love it. Always great to see the different timbers you have available as it is just not econimical in Australia to use anything but local timber. But the techniques are universal. Thanks for the tips.
@danieltomasjr.587111 ай бұрын
Thank you for the master class in every video you always give us. You are a master and I follow every lesson. Thank you sir.
@greggerstner559911 ай бұрын
Picked up this tip from a spoon carving vid as well. A British woman carver in my case -- perhaps she learned from your source. In addition to polished stone, I've tried bone, antler, shavings, paper, and a small-ring chain mail pot scrubber. Works beautifully and these methods put a wonderful tactile finish that you couldn't get with micromesh. A customer showed me a red cedar spatula thing that he'd carved decades ago. Not much to look at, but the texture! -- decades of daily handling and at the time I knew that I could never achieve that feel with sandpaper. Burnishing comes very close. Trying to sand less and less. Hate sanding. And now you should invent a power burnisher for big flatwork projects. Awesome video, and good on you for putting out yet another game-changer.
@johnnyb9567811 ай бұрын
As always, I really appreciate you sharing your knowledge and experience. Thank you for sharing!
@loucinci392211 ай бұрын
Enjoyed the video. Thanks for sharing
@orellinvvardengra677511 ай бұрын
I know you said your mic didn’t pick up the sound all to well but I could hear the difference when you were rubbing your finger across. This was a nice video, thanks for the information!
@soofihasan11 ай бұрын
Thank you sir, you teach me the most interesting ideas and amazing tips. Thank you and God bless
@garyfoster307611 ай бұрын
You are the MAN. Nice job❤
@sixsigma100011 ай бұрын
Just luv your films/vids❤
@puddinggeek462311 ай бұрын
Excellent video as always. I have used the brown paper truck for a while, ever since I saw Steve Ramsay WWMM do it. Keep up the great work.
@markduggan345111 ай бұрын
Great video, with lots of information.
@OregonOldTimerWOODTURNING11 ай бұрын
Thanks for this. I'll be trying it today.
@dpmeyer486711 ай бұрын
thanks, good info
@1Dataware12311 ай бұрын
Great Video. Thanx!
@SnakeAndTurtleQigong10 ай бұрын
Thanks very much
@gregshoopman917011 ай бұрын
Thanks Shawn
@thomashverring94849 ай бұрын
Great video! Thanks, Shawn :^)
@ernestoalonsoYT11 ай бұрын
Very interesting and mind opening. I knew about this, but I always thought it would affect the amount of finishing the wood would absorb. Great explanation as always. Thank you, Shawn!
@medic47211 ай бұрын
Thanks for the tip. I usually water pop in the final stages of sanding. I wish I was good enough at the lathe to go right to finish. I'll try burnishing to see if that gives me the results I'm looking for.
@AffordBindEquipment11 ай бұрын
White Scotch Brite (1000 grit) does the same thing. Or start with light grey (800 grit) and then white. Changed my turning finishing completely. Sandpaper just wasn't getting gloss enough.
@changefortanzania7 ай бұрын
I have put a few wood chips on the white scotch.Bright pad on my wood turning and use it to burnish it very well. Then my last step is to use the scotch.Bright pad with no wood chips. Then I finish it with ob.Shine juice and final step is hard wax and then polished. Best finish I've ever gotten. And it only takes a few minutes. On my wood turned items.
@etcher684111 ай бұрын
Thanks mate!
@yotamgosh11 ай бұрын
I know that traditional clay pottery uses smooth stones (especially very hard ones) to burnish the clay pots before firing them Also, is the spoon carving burnishing you mentioned a video? Is there a link?
@WhoOwl-o4f2 ай бұрын
Fine sandpaper works well also
@wortheffort2 ай бұрын
Boat same, see video.
@HansWurst1234511 ай бұрын
for non porous wood like beech, burnishing with fine steel wool is the best ive yet found. Result feels almost like injection molded plastic
@ianpearse448011 ай бұрын
Have you ever tried Agate? I have used it to burnish gold leaf, now I am wondering about wood prep.
@wortheffort11 ай бұрын
Nope. Do it and tell us.
@Exodus5K11 ай бұрын
If you're going to burnish large flat furniture parts, why not try using a straw burnisher (otherwise known as a French Polissoir)? Although I would be interested to know if it impacts the ability of the wood to absorb oil finish.
@williamno.145011 ай бұрын
For spoon carving, you can use anything hard, such as the back of the knife you were carving with, I have used antler/bone, or some sort of ceramic.
@msifert11 ай бұрын
It's like in working with concrete on floors you can , power trowel it , and it becomes harder. If you "hard trowel it", 3 times longer than power troweling, it starts to turn black and shiny, this makes it slippery when wet and brittle on the surface. This surface is nice in a woodworking area because it's easy to sweep up dust from.
@skipjames843711 ай бұрын
I'd say burnishing (& sanding) is pretty much done by ear (& feel). You only look at it to see where to put your hands, ( & to admire your work when you're done).
@qapla11 ай бұрын
Burnishing can make a vast difference on a lathe ... try using #0000 or finer steel wool (they do make #000000) followed by paper - doesn't have to be a brown paper bag, newspaper of copier paper also work (newspaper should be used without the print unless a little ink transfer doesn't impact your project)
@mypony89111 ай бұрын
So if you put a stain or oil on the project should you still burnish afterwards?
@wortheffort11 ай бұрын
burnish before finish. its prep work.
@executive11 ай бұрын
it makes me wonder though, if burnishing lays the fibres down, does applying a finish (eg. oil) are they just going to stand back up again
@wortheffort11 ай бұрын
Burnishing isn't really laying fibers down. Which is why I demonstrated on sliced wood not sanded (abraded).
@bryanlloyd60249 ай бұрын
Is burnishing meant to be a replacement for sanding or something you do before sanding?
@changefortanzania7 ай бұрын
It is something I do after sanding to 800 or 1000 grit sandpaper.
@meriscz11 ай бұрын
What Hello, then what is the difference after applying oil for example? I don't know if I can compare, but for a "smooth" surface, I learned to spray the wood with water (sometimes isopropyl alcohol) and then run a few times in all directions with 400 sandpaper. The liquid "builds" the fibers, which the tool did not "cut", but pushed into the product. In the end, it will probably be the same principle as in the video.
@wortheffort11 ай бұрын
That works if you abrade (sand).
@meriscz11 ай бұрын
@@wortheffort I did not realize that. My fault.
@DonsWoodies11 ай бұрын
I recently purchased a Polissoir to burnish wood panels. It's a pretty time consuming process. I wonder if it has the same effect as you mention about not affecting the oil absorption since it puts a lot of localized pressure on the wood? I've also heard about but not tried using a piece of deer antler as a burnisher.
@wortheffort11 ай бұрын
Polissoir does same thing.
@williamno.145011 ай бұрын
Burnishing is compressing and laying down the severed wood fibers.
@skipjames843711 ай бұрын
Like what you do to a corner miter.
@jimhyslop11 ай бұрын
Is burnishing instead of, or in addition to, the oil/poly/wax/etc. finish?
@marcusrobinson177811 ай бұрын
In addition to oil/wax. Poly isn't really needed
@dranob11 ай бұрын
Love this vid (as I do a lot of your others) - always something to learn. Speaking of learning - I don't know if you have an opinion on this topic, but now that I've dipped toe in the woodworking world, I see a lot of ads coming to me for subscriptions to industry sites/magazines. $1.29 for a year! Education, videos! Are any of them 'worth the effort'? I know it's only a couple bucks, but as a hobbyist I only have so much time to go down the rabbit hole and want that time to be well-spent. Are any of these memberships of value, or are they just money grabs and could be teaching me things 'wrong' that I'll have to unlearn? Would love your opinion. Thanks again for the great video - keep them up!
@wortheffort11 ай бұрын
I don’t know what those are.
@michaelnorman564011 ай бұрын
I joined the woodworker guild of America if that’s what you are talking about scam almost everything there is already on KZbin for free he just condensed everything down to about 40 pages you can choose from videos that when you have a question or I seen many others say videos were incomplete with the plans as well I would go with a HARD PASS they are hoping you don’t cancel so they can hit you with the premium charge! Go luck my friend and just find a builder with plans buy and follow you will do fine!
@fionam355411 ай бұрын
I think you are compressing the grain a bit. Patting it down like cement with a trowel, not cutting or hammering? Before baseball bats were as machined (and expensive) as today, players used to rub a bone along the grain to harden the bat. Usually a cow femur or the like.
@wortheffort11 ай бұрын
didn't know that about bone.
@calebkirkbride843911 ай бұрын
Answer to question at 5 minute mark: you're filing in the pores of the wood with its own shavings so they are more stable and less likely to be crushed.
@patmash11 ай бұрын
I use a paper bag crumbled up to burnish.
@arthurbrands693511 ай бұрын
Roy Hobbs burnished his torrified ash bat with bone.
@marcusrobinson177811 ай бұрын
I believe it bends over the fibers. Imagine you had grass if you laid a sheet if plywood on it for a day then moved it it would be all bent over and laid down. Pottery uses burnishing too and it packs the crystals tighter on edge grain you are smashing them flatter. Grain is the flowem and phyllum of the vascular plant with lignin and cellulose.
@wortheffort11 ай бұрын
that would be the case if it was abraded (sanded) but not when sliced.
@marcusrobinson177811 ай бұрын
@@wortheffort I'm confused. Burnishing isn't slicing. It's essentially 0 grit sanding. I have access to a scanning electron microscope at my university if you want me to take a look
@marcusrobinson177811 ай бұрын
@@wortheffort also sorry if my comment was confusing. I got half way through it before doing something else and had to put it down then posted it half complete when I came back. I didn't proof read etc.