Rubbing out Zpoxy finishing resin, and scratches.

[robert raess]

I have been on a journey the past couple of years trying to accomplish Urushi finishing techniques.Of course I am not using Urushi,trying to avoid the potential of rashes and allergic reactions...and a whole other set of techniques etc. .
What I have been using is Zpoxy finishing resin that Luthiers use on guitars.
I mix pigment,dyes, furniture powders into the resin and let dry.
Then I sand starting at 120 or 150 all the way to 2000 grit.At this point i switch to automotive rubbing compounds .Starting at fine #2 to swirl remover[meguire's].
I can bring up an amazing shine.I should mention many pieces[all wood turned pieces] are black.
I have successfully pulled it off[on black] but it is hard to replicate.
Fine scratches ,here and there but not all over.I sand under a light and use a visor with magnification to improve my chances of no scratches.
First problem is:when you go backwards starting at 2000 grit it of course dulls the finish and a dull finish doesn't show scratches as much.
Any experience rubbing out finishes? and more specifically and experience regarding rubbing out epoxy?
I've tried automotive glazes/polishes and they are okay.
How about a polish of another sort that may keep the wet look and hide the scratches?
I'm open to input..Thanks Rob

[Brian W Smith]

Sorry,not a whole lot of help....we're a Presta shop(polishing compounds) and although we spray a fair amt of epoxy finishes,they're almost universally of a matte or one of our proprietary "pebble" finishes.These are for gunstocks and traditional archery bows(recurves and longbows).Really work on your temps,shop's and materials.Think "clean".Work on understanding the "cure" rate and how it effects your polishing.Like always,test panels make experimentation so much more relaxing.Don't fight with it,learn by it......and this comes with practice.best of luck.

[John Coloccia]

I have been on a journey the past couple of years trying to accomplish Urushi finishing techniques.Of course I am not using Urushi,trying to avoid the potential of rashes and allergic reactions...and a whole other set of techniques etc. .
What I have been using is Zpoxy finishing resin that Luthiers use on guitars.
I mix pigment,dyes, furniture powders into the resin and let dry.
Then I sand starting at 120 or 150 all the way to 2000 grit.At this point i switch to automotive rubbing compounds .Starting at fine #2 to swirl remover[meguire's].
I can bring up an amazing shine.I should mention many pieces[all wood turned pieces] are black.
I have successfully pulled it off[on black] but it is hard to replicate.
Fine scratches ,here and there but not all over.I sand under a light and use a visor with magnification to improve my chances of no scratches.
First problem is:when you go backwards starting at 2000 grit it of course dulls the finish and a dull finish doesn't show scratches as much.
Any experience rubbing out finishes? and more specifically and experience regarding rubbing out epoxy?
I've tried automotive glazes/polishes and they are okay.
How about a polish of another sort that may keep the wet look and hide the scratches?
I'm open to input..Thanks Rob

Honestly, I'm not sure what you're trying to do. The wet look comes from high gloss, but it doesn't sound like you want high gloss, so you have two opposite things fighting each other.

If you want high gloss without scratches, the only way to do it is be absolutely sure all of the scratches are gone before buffing, and while buffing be absolutely sure that there is no contaminant that can get on the surface and scratch it (left over grit, dust, etc). That's about it. If you do that, you'll have a high gloss finish with no scratches.

Be careful with paper towels, BTW. They can leave scratches. Only lint free cotton, please