Hello,
I recentyl built a hall table and built the top of Lace wood, and finished it with pre cat sprayed lacquer. The top is almost ready to be rubbed out to a high gloss finish.
After reading endless articles, buying an entire library of books on the subject I kinda came up with a solution to all the hand rubbing. ( I think)
Here is what I came up with for the gloss rub out: start with leveling the finish with 600 wet or dry, after leveling is done wet sand with a 800 and work up to 1000, then sprinkle on some pumice and water and rub it till the cows come home. ( take a nap) then put on some rotten stone and rub the same way. polish with some wax and youre done. I have two questions here
1) can you use a buffer with the pumice and rottenstone?
2) what kind of wax should be used? I heard any is good as long as it doesnt have any silicone in it. I tried butchers wax on a piece once and one arm is bigger than the other now
any advice on getting a deep gloss finish with lacquer will be appeciated.
Thanks,
Bob
Replies
Read the latest issue of fww they have offered some suggestion on rubbing out a finish.
Skip the pumice part. Autobody compounds are simpler and much better results. Rubbing compound is most coarse, then polishing, then glazing. I go through all 3 in sequence. Follow the instructions on the bottle. 3M is my preference, but lots of others are fine. When you're done with the glazing, the gloss is so high that wax usually has no benefit. The woodworking waxes I've used don't have a mirror gloss and they can attract dust. 3M show-car wax is silicone-free and has a lot more gloss. You shouldn't need wax on top of lacquer, but a high-tech car wax is the stuff to try if you feel the need.
cassidy1 ,
You didn't say how you applied the lacquer finish . IMO spraying the lacquer finish will produce an almost flawless finish that will require no rub out . What materials did you use ? and with what method of application ? In trying to find out why you feel the need to rub out, how many coats were applied and did you use sanding sealer first or were you using a self sealing product ?What gloss did you use ? Rubbing out lacquer is often done to smooth out a rough finish. A good sanding job on the raw wood before finishing is truly important as well as sanding in-between coats all the while building the finish .Some stains can raise the grain and cause a rough finish also . Many of the modern lacquers when applied properly do not require a rub out unless there is another problem. It seems when you rub out you are actually taking away some of the finish/ gloss/ and durability .
good luck dusty
Cassidy,
I rubbed out a 5' x 5' top recently, final coat was lacquer and the whole rubbing out process took no more than one hour. Had excellent results.
This is the procedure I followed:
Wet sanded the final coat lightly with 400 3M wet dry paper, using mineral spirits as the media and an air powered orbital sander. Followed this up with 3M super duty rubbing compound, using an electrical polisher/buffer, running a foam pad at 1800 rpm. Followed with 3M Perfect it II rubbing compound, using same procedure, but finer foam pad. This gave me the level of semi gloss required, so I finished with 3M Imperial machine glaze, using a compounding pad, to remove all swirl marks and leave the final finish. The whole rubbing out process took about one hour.
If I wanted true gloss, there was a finer 3M compound available, prior to the machine glaze.
Suggest you look at the 3M web site.
Willie
PS. You can look up the project under gallery "Formal Dining Set"
Edited 9/7/2004 2:41 pm ET by Jellyrug
Nice post. I'm refinishing a piano, ribbon mahogany, 100 yrs old, new shellac finish. I rubbed out one piece (they come apart in a number of pieces, amazing construction) with pumice & rottenstone and liked the results, but didn't like the time it took. The article in the recent FWW got me thinking about auto compounds and a buffer/random orbital sander combo.
My question: which r.o. sander? Porter Cable makes 2 variable speed models. The cheaper one is 3.7 amps and has speed selection from about 3,000 to 7,000 rpms. The more expensive and heavier one is 10 amps or so and runs at 1,000 to 3,000 rpms. Do I need the amps? What speed range is best for woodworking? Any other suggestions? Thanks.
Jim,
1000 - 3000 rpm is ideal for rubbing out the finish with compounds and yes, you need the amps. I use a Dewalt electronic polisher/sander 7"/9" purely for the rubbing out process. I use a rough foam pad for the rough rubbing compound, which cuts real quick, a finer pad for the next compounds and then a wool buffing pad for the final glazing finish. If you want a high gloss finish, follow the procedure I suggested, but use 3M Finesse-it II finishing material, before the machine glaze. On shellac, you may need to experiment, as you may be able to skip the rough compound.
The problem with an electrical R.O. sander is the fire danger, when you wet sand using Mineral Spirits. For this reason, I use an el-cheapo air powered unit, available at Home Depot, for around $50.
Hope this helps
Willie
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