Guess I Will Keep The Bot After All

[Ken Sully]

As I have witnessed here if you keep working to improve things can get better.

Did this on Cherry with a Walnut frame.

[cowboy1296]

Looking pretty sharp. How did you finish that. Finishing is my downfall.

[Brady Watson]

Ken,
I must have missed something...Were you going to get rid of the Bot? Why?

-B

[Ken Sully]

Rick
I must say finishing is not my favorite part. So I found a product that is quite easy to use. What I did was coat the entire carve except the sting ray and turtle with a wipe on oil. Then used a walnut stain on the creatures. The oil seals the wood and keeps the stain from creeping on to the rest of the project.
What I use:
General Finishes
Arm-R-Seal
It's a wipe on oil urethane top coat. Very easy to use.
I also did the fish this way

[scottp55]

They came out Great Ken!
Thanks for the finishing info. I really like the salmon:)

[cowboy1296]

It seems that every natural oil that i use on blonde wood turns it an ugly amber. Thanks for the heads up.

[cowboy1296]

I read the reviews on the arm-a-seal. Sounds good, especially the part about it not YELLOWING. I also saw that it thickens in a short time. Have you had that problem and do you thin it at all.

[Ken Sully]

Rick,
I have thinned with Mineral Spirits with good luck. The other things I do is if the bottle is plastic I squeeze out as much air as I can. I also use a product from the link below. It works great and does about 75 quart cans. Bloxben works great




http://www.bloxygen.com

[cowboy1296]

Never heard of it but it does have great reviews. I will have to try it out.

[cowboy1296]

I am doing my first project with arm a seal and i must say that so far i like what i see, which is no yellowing. Typically i do 4 tops coats and i am using semi gloss. How many top coats do you do?

[dlcw]

I've been using Arm-R-Seal for about 15 years now. I love the stuff. Can be sprayed, brushed (levels out very nicely) or wiped on.

When wiping, I've found that heating it up (thins it) makes it soak in better. I wait about 10 minutes and wipe off any excess. Then apply about 8 subsequent coats in this fashion. I put the Arm-R-Seal in a small squeeze bottle, then put that in a larger pan of hot water and let it sit for about 15 minutes.

I've also sprayed it with really good results. I didn't need to thin it when spraying as it has about the same consistency as MLCampbell conversion varnish (Duravar).

All in all for nicer projects with a lot of grain, figure and wood coloring I always reach for Arm-R-Seal.

No, I am not paid to say this. :) I've just had really good results with it and really like the product.

[cowboy1296]

I am doing my 3rd coat today and so far it is a winner on doing 3-d. I was about to give up on working with cherry but now am placing another order.

[Ken Sully]

Rick,
I do about the same as Don.
I have never been disappointed with Arm-R - Seal

[cowboy1296]

Well my first use came out great. But i only did 4 thin coats. I purposely darkened it up when adding gel stain to the vectors. I like it so much better.

[barrowj]

Rick,

As I have not done any 3D yet, can you give me the appox time it took to carve it and what size is it? Still trying to convince the wife that I need to upgrade to Aspire but first need to learn so much.

[cowboy1296]

3-d is time consuming. If you stand there and watch it progress it is like watching grass grow. That plaque is 17 inches tall and took roughly 5-6 hours to do the finishing tool path and maybe 2 hours the roughing. I have some that have taken 20 hours to cut.

Paying for the aspire upgrade was a hard pill to swallow. But i have to admit it is well worth it. I have never upgraded from 3.5 mostly because it does everything that i need but i just might some day.

Once i got into 3-d, i very seldom do anything else.