Final Polishing

No tinning, no lacquering - just au naturel!

Instead of having strongly scratched surface, I decided to go for more subtle linear finish that looks good with plywood. 

After spending endless amount of time researching how to clean and finish copper I did the following:

I sanded the surface - placed the object on lathe, and as the object is spinning I lightly sanded it with emery paper, up to 800 coarseness. I cleaned the surface with Vulpex abrasive soap (from conservation supplier) to remove all grease. Cif would do too. And finally, I waxed the surface with Renaissance wax (used in British Museum), to give a protective coating against premature oxidising from touch. This wax won't seal the surface, but helps.

For the plywood, I applied a blend of beeswax, carnauba wax and mineral oil. Added two coatings.

I like the effect, but decided for this project, that the linear finish suits better. Maybe another project in near future that will have the kind of scratched finish.

when cleaning the surface with abrasive soap, for some reason, it leaves kind of soap marks or some sort of on the surface. I needed to make sure the metal was cleaned extremely carefully.