Artie finishing is the final piece of the woodworking puzzle. There are many different methods that all work so you have to figure out which one works for you. Try several of them on different woods. The prep can be very different for soft wood vs hard woods and you may find that you will use different processes for hard woods than you use for soft woods. The only way to get the results you want is to practice. Spray on finishes like poly or varnishes take special considerations because you need an isolated environment for drying. My wife and I generally prefer natural finishes. Danish oils are great for immediate results, especially when we want to install fixed cabinetry. It also allows for a varied level of finish from natural all the way to high gloss. To get it to high gloss is labor intensive. My wife has had cabinets that she applied upwards of 12-15 coats over a years time to get the look she wanted. In other cases one coat gave her what she was looking for. Our other finish which we use for free standing furniture is hand rubbed shellac or as it’s commonly called French polish. We make our own concoctions on that one which if you want I can elaborate on if you are interested. Shellac gives that amazing high gloss finish on hard woods and is pretty low tech, but again labor intensive. Once you get the technique down, which is fairly simple, the results are a rich high gloss finish. 
Paul

There are two things that frustrate finishing:

 

1. Misleading names and labels.   Almost all the "Tung Oil Finishes" are not really tung oil and many don't contain tung oil at all or in minisule quantities or as part of a mix that's made into varnish and not really tung oil any more.  Similarly for Water-based Lacquer that has nothing in common with the lacquer that's been used extensively for 100 years.  Water-based polyurethane is predominately acrylic resins with a splash of urethane. Teak Oil finish can be about anything the mfr wants to put in a can.  I even had a manufacturer when I asked if a product was like a Danish Oil (an oil-varnish blend in most cases) tell me, no, it's all American oils.   Minwax "Wood Finish" is not a finish at all but a product line of stains, some pigmented, some dye, and some both.  A thinned varnish is touted as an "Oil-Urethane Blend"   This is like calling a loaf of bread a "Flour-Yeast Blend"   Varnish is cooked oil and resins and becomes a new, different product.    Add to that the many myths and misunderstandings that are propagated and you can see why it's so confusing.

 

2. Finishing is chemistry; woodworking is physics.    You can tell if a tenon is going to fit into a mortise by measuring or trial.  You can tell if a board is 23" long or 23 1/2".    You apply a finish and it's not obvious what is happening as it dries and cures because it's a chemical reaction, evaporation of a solvent or thinner, or bonding of large molecules, or some of the above.

 

Many people get so frustrated, they find one thing that works reasonably well for them, then use it for everything, regardless if it's really appropriate for the project at hand or not.  I was at a shop once where they guy turned bowls and had a whole shelf of wipe-on poly.  He'd read a recent article that it was the best of the surveyed wipe-on finishes.   Two problems with that.  First is do you really need the protection of a poly for something that only ever sits on a shelf?  Second, the article was a sham.   Things that were not meant to be applied that way and were used contrary to their usual directions.  Nothing wrong with mastering one finish, then moving on.  No one finish is perfect for everything.

 

Flexner's book will help a lot.

Cal, I bought Poplar. It was the cheapest ahhh least expensive hard wood I could find. 

Lots of good info here Artie, but you did say that you wanted to paint them.  With hundreds of small pieces, and a pretty short window to get them all done - I would still suggest the rattle can.  You have a great opportunity here to do an experiment that would take most of us several years to accomplish. 

How many parts can you reasonably paint at one time?  Make a log of the finishing schedule and vary the technique for each batch!  As an example, batch 1 = 2 coats primer, 2 coats of Krylon ( ) green; batch 2 = 1 coat primer, 2 coats Krylon ( ) green, batch 3= no primer, just 2 coats Krylon ( ) green; batch 4 uses Rustoleum ( ) green, etc.

Vary sanding schedule - can you tell the difference between sanding to 120 vs 220?  Could you tell a difference in painting between Krylon, Rustoleum and the house brand?

As for a technique to help you, I would use a light duty stapler to put a staple into the end grain.  Practice on a piece of scrap - you don't want to sink the staple - and then use a piece of small wire to hang it with.

 

Good luck with it Artie, you have your hands full!

I will be very honest with you Cal, I have tried spray paint twice, and the results make my foam brush painting seem excellent.I am gonna try to get al the holes drilled today, and all sanding done (hopefully). Will try to start primer painting tomorrow, and take it from there. One issue from spray can painting is I know there is an odor, is there an odor from spraying water based paint from a Fuji, Apollo, Earlex, etc?

Artie, I've had 2 different experiences spraying waterborne finishes (I have a Fuji turbine sprayer). With clearcoats like some of the General Finish stuff and Target Coatings (the ones I've used the most) there is indeed an odor, though it's not very strong. I still wore a respirator while I was in my spray booth (plastic sheets hanging from the ceiling) since some of the stuff still isn't all that healthy (so I'm told). With acrylic paints the cans are usually labeled with the same warnings about using a respirator and ventilation. Even so, it's way less than the odor from oil based finishes, but I would guess it to be about the same from the equivalent product in a rattle can.

So I already bought General Finishes primer, and paint, both water based. The paint is a green (Westminster Green) milk paint. The wood is Poplar, almost zero knots. The instructions for the paint say it doesn’t NEED a primer coat. I’m wondering if 3 coats of just the paint will do. Unless I hear from here otherwise (sometimes I just crack myself up  ) I will start painting 5 of the trees tomorrow. At this point I’m thinking I will have the 10 trees done other than the painting, tonight.

Again, I'm not the expert but remember, sanding lightly with 220 paper, especially after the first coat to remove the raised grain. I also think that foam brushes tend to apply thicker coats. I'm asking others to comment on this before you get started with your painting.

...I like the foam brushes for applying poly, or varnish, but hate them for paint.

I probably use them WRONG, but I'm one that doesn't load up any type of brush with a lot of finish. (I wear much less that way.)

Can't say I have used foam brush for water based finish of any kind.  I like them for poly and oil based paint.  Now lacquer you need a good brush.

These trays were finished with foam brushes.  Used Rustoleum oil based paint and then for bottom of tray I finished with poly.  Once done I assembled to the painted gray frame.  

 

For lighter colors like say yellow, a white primer coat will save you alot of coats of paint.  Other wise the wood seems to bleed through the light color.  Green is no too bad, dark blue, red and gray all do well with no primer.  I prefer the foam brush so I can get a thin layer of paint that dries quicker.  So I build my coats up, usually 3 with the last being heavier than the previous two.  Most of the things I paint though are for shop use, stuff for the house I prefer natural color of the wood, or stain of some kind.

39 minutes ago, Gunny said:

These trays were finished with foam brushes.  Used Rustoleum oil based paint and then for bottom of tray I finished with poly.  Once done I assembled to the painted gray frame.  

 

Looks like the foam brush worked well with the oil base paint. Nice job.

Well I figured out one thing, every piece of wood I am painting has a 1/4 inch hole in it to stack up for the tree. I can spread some rod across some sawhorses and paint both sides at once. I mostly use foam brushes because I have a boat load of them. I got a Lowes and a Home Depot a short pleasant ride from where we live. Are they likely to have decent brushes for woodworking? Or just house painting ones? I know nothing about brushes, (kinda why I got a lot of the foam ones, use em, toss em). I do think I’m gonna try 3 coats of the milk paint.  

7 minutes ago, Artie said:

Well I figured out one thing, every piece of wood I am painting has a 1/4 inch hole in it to stack up for the tree. I can spread some rod across some sawhorses and paint both sides at once. I mostly use foam brushes because I have a boat load of them. I got a Lowes and a Home Depot a short pleasant ride from where we live. Are they likely to have decent brushes for woodworking? Or just house painting ones? I know nothing about brushes, (kinda why I got a lot of the foam ones, use em, toss em). I do think I’m gonna try 3 coats of the milk paint.  

 

Those foam brushes have a handle.  While the foam may be done take it apart from the handle.  Now you have dowels, or short stir sticks etc etc.  Many uses.  Put them in a box.

I would go get a good brush, be sure to get one labeled for paint (as opposed to a natural bristle brush, they don't do well in water based finishes). As for the primer, most all paints anymore are labeled "no primer needed" or "self priming" or some other BS.  Since you mentioned milk paint (and I have zero experience with that) I would take a scrap and try it without primer, do the 3 coats. Shouldn't take long and that will tell you whether you need the primer (I'm thinking with milk paint you might not need it). I did look at that project and now have a little better understanding of how much work it will be.....all I can say is: good luck, you do have your work cut out.

Got a tree farm in the basement!

Good idea

On 11/25/2020 at 8:11 AM, Cal said:

I did not know that you could look at the digital issue of the magazine for free...

@Cal How do you do that?  I'm not able to see the whole article - it grays out in the second paragraph.

You go Artie!  How many pieces is this, and how long did it take to get this far?

 

 

13 hours ago, JimM said:

@Cal How do you do that?  I'm not able to see the whole article - it grays out in the second paragraph.

 

Wish I could tell you Jim, but I didn't do anything special.  It allowed me to look at the whole issue.  I am using Firefox on an old Mac, not sure what program may have opened the mag.