Читать книгу Finishing Techniques for Wood Crafters - Lora S. Irish - Страница 13

This book is primarily about paint finishes, but sometimes the very best finish is no finish at all.

This particular Whittle Fish sat untouched on my table as I was working on this book and painting and finishing countless other fish just like it. It is not that I ignored it or avoided it; I simply never came to a painting process that seemed right for this particular body. The body shape was so streamlined that it seemed any painting would take away from its simple form. So I decided to use the simplest finish possible—burnishing— to complement that simple shape.

To burnish, use a small piece of wood, in this case a wooden spoon, to rub the entire surface of the carving using a medium pressure. You should feel the pressure against the wood, but your fingers and hand should not feel cramped. Rub the entire surface several times until the carving has an even, smooth-feeling, soft sheen. Burnishing is a wonderful finish for any carving that will be heavily handled; the finished result just feels great in your hand.

Burnishing works best when the item used to burnish is a hardwood such as ash, birch, or maple. For basswood practice pieces like this one, for example, a wooden spoon made of poplar or birch works very well. To burnish a hard wood like walnut, I would use an even harder wood like maple.