<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1276" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV>Hi Randy,</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I do a lot of these. First of all I can never understand why = manufacturers back then insisted on taking expensive gabon ebony or grenadillo and = coating them with black lacquer. A waste of beautiful wood.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Just strip the old finish from the sharps. Sand them using 220 grit = and 400 grit wet-or-dry sandpaper. Use a sanding block; it keeps the corners nice = and crisp. Then mix a little black aniline powder into some wipe-on = polyurethane. Stir it. Then apply about two coats to the wood. It works fine, and you can= see the wood grain through it.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Hope this helps.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Charles Faulk</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>On Wed, 28 Jan 2004 11:16:30 -0800 "Randy Rush" <<A href="mailto:randyrush@earthlink.net">randyrush@earthlink.net</A>> writes:</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="PADDING-LEFT: 10px; MARGIN-LEFT: 10px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px = solid"> <DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080 size=2>Listers,</FONT= ></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080 size=2></FONT> <= /DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080 size=2>Have any of = you folks come up with a satisfactory method of recoating old sharps that is also = cost effective?  Long ago, I tried black dye, followed by muliple coats = of black lacquer from a can, and finished with a few clear coats.  I = was never really satisfied with the results, even after rubbing down with = steel wool.  It always looked less than professional to me, and I went to= advising people to replace with plastic sharps, especially if I was = replacing the keytops too.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080 size=2></FONT> <= /DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080 size=2>I now have a = customer who is insistent on keeping the wooden sharps (I haven't seen them yet, but I= don't think they are ebony), and I'd like to come up with a refinishing = method that looks better than just decent, without having to set up a spray = booth and compressor, which I can't really do.  What's your experience?</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080 size=2></FONT> <= /DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080 size=2>Thanks,</FONT>= </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080 size=2></FONT> <= /DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080 size=2>Randy Rush</= FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>