Recently I've been seeing a few nice pieces which have a matt finish. It's almost as if there is no finish at all, but there is because they can be handled without becoming 'grubby' from dust and finger marks. It seems counter intuitive, we spend ages making things smooth and shiny, but matt works really well with some shapes and woods. Today I saw some spindle turned 3 - 4 inch cupola shaped bowls in ash, maple and something ?? spalted.
I guess the obvious answer is sand to 240 or 320 and use a matt varnish, perhaps acrylic, perhaps thinned, perhaps picture varnish, but I'm interested in what others might do.
