What is the best finish to use on pens?
Sorry, there is no such thing… everybody has his/her own methods, and the perfect finish, despite manufacturers’ claims, has yet to be found. It is important to polish the wood to your best abilities. When the finish wears, you’ll still have highly polished wood. A few random pointers anyway: 1) Seal your wood. There are several products out there, popular ones are Mylands Cellulose Sealer, Woodwrite Ltd CN11. 2) Try stabilized blanks. These can be polished to a high gloss and don’t need a finish. 3) Everybody tries HUT PPP once… it looks good at first but does not last at all. A little better if applied over a sealer. 4) Std wood finishes that you are familiar with can be applied, like lacquer, polyurethane, oil finishes. Whatever you’re comfortable can be applied on a pen. You can use stains. But some of these processes are very slow.
