Waterproof gloss

[chaoticbob]

Most of my (few ) woodwork projects get finished with oil, or if I want it shiny, shellac. I'm making a handle for an embossing wheel for a potter now, and in my mind's eye it is glossy. Wet environment, so shellac's no good. Is there anything which gives a similar finish and is water resistant? Probably doesn't matter too much, it's just a tool, but it would be good to make it pretty as well as functional.
Rob.

 

[ED65]

Varnish is probably sufficiently water-resistant for this. If you build up varnish to sufficient thickness it would be waterproof as far as you need be concerned, but that's a substantial coating and many don't like the 'encased' look.

You could go the other way entirely and leave it unfinished. Much of the wooden implements used in ceramics are left bare, although the best of them are made of boxwood so the grain is imperceptible this'll work even on coarse-grained woods. Pre-raise the grain and knock back a couple of times so it doesn't go unpleasantly rough once it gets wet in service.

Is the handle hand-shaped or turned by the way? If you would prefer a finish another option is superglue, although it's a PITA to apply to something that isn't spinning on a lathe. I've had good results on a small scale with superglue coatings on wooden tools that are used wet so I imagine it would work fine for such a handle, but it is brittle so won't do well with any impacts.

 

[thetyreman]

try pure tung oil, it's very water resistant.

 

[chaoticbob]

Thanks for replies, and apologies for tardy response. The handle was hand-shaped and I was looking for a high gloss 'encased' look - it doesn't matter too much to the client, but I use projects like this to experiment with finishes. I ended up using yacht varnish, which was OK -ish. I work mainly with metal, and learned early on that there are no short cuts to getting a nice finish. Even more so with wood I suspect!
A little bit further up the learning curve - thanks again.
Rob