Buffing questions

[robert baccus]

Really hard woods-tropicals, closed grain woods ect. really look better just buffed with carnuba and a buffing compound of a like color. There is no change of color. Ren wax is great stuff over a finish however it does not seem to fill pores and grain like thicker carnuba. Mu fav. wax is a blend of 3 parts carnuba to one of bees wax thinned with a bit of pure gum turpentine to suit. It was the preferred finish in the Louise 14th furniture makers and has looks great today unlike the various film finishes used then. Some really hard oily woods look best just buffed with a small bit of carnuba at very high speed.

[Thomas Canfield]

I normally do buff raw wood with Tripoli prior to applying a Danish oil blend finish system. It seems to take a 400 grit sanding up to a much higher level, but does impart a little reddish tint from the wax to lighter woods. It was suggested by Elmer Adams, Big Island HI. Try it on some 400 sanded raw wood and see the difference.

[Doug Rasmussen]

I normally do buff raw wood with Tripoli prior to applying a Danish oil blend finish system. It seems to take a 400 grit sanding up to a much higher level, but does impart a little reddish tint from the wax to lighter woods. It was suggested by Elmer Adams, Big Island HI. Try it on some 400 sanded raw wood and see the difference.

That's interesting Thomas.

Googling on "Tripoli". "Brown Tripoli buffing compound is typically used for cutting and removing scratches from aluminum and stainless steel. This compound is also commonly used for bringing out a high luster on wood."

Are there finishing situations where the residue, the reddish tint, would be a problem?

[Marvin Hasenak]

I normally do buff raw wood with Tripoli prior to applying a Danish oil blend finish system. It seems to take a 400 grit sanding up to a much higher level, but does impart a little reddish tint from the wax to lighter woods. It was suggested by Elmer Adams, Big Island HI. Try it on some 400 sanded raw wood and see the difference.

You are sealing the wood before applying your finish. Your finish will lack durability, it is like apply a finish over wax. Buffing compounds are made of the abrasives and held together with grease binders.

[Dick Strauss]

How do you buff the inside of a 4 or 5 inch deep bowl, as the OP was asking about doing that ??

Leo,
Where does the OP ask about buffing the inside of 4 or 5" deep bowls prior to my previous post?

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Leo,
Where does the OP ask about buffing the inside of 4 or 5" deep bowls prior to my previous post?

Quote OP
I've had a few bowls recently that didn't have quite the sheen I wanted (primarily on oil finishes), so I've decided to pick up some buffing equipment. I'm not a big fan of wax for most items, so I'll probably skip the carnauba step (though I'm buying all three wheels in case I change my mind). I still need to pickup some compounds and a mount (I'm thinking of creating my own mount instead of buying one).

He does want to polish bowls, not pens or such things, a bowl is quickly 4 or more inches deep.

[Thomas Canfield]

You are sealing the wood before applying your finish. Your finish will lack durability, it is like apply a finish over wax. Buffing compounds are made of the abrasives and held together with grease binders.

Elmer told me in telcon 5-10-08 that the Danish Oil blend tended to melt any wax residue that remained after the Tripoli buff and did not change the final finish. I have been using the process since shortly after that, and the final finish (after about 4 to 6 coats of oil/buffing and final wax) does give a very hard finish that holds up. Biggest thing is to allow ample time to dry before next step.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

You are sealing the wood before applying your finish. Your finish will lack durability, it is like apply a finish over wax. Buffing compounds are made of the abrasives and held together with grease binders.

I do and have used tripoli (the red bar) and then use the diamond (the white bar) it does remove pretty well all of the tripoli, and then apply Polymerized Tung oil on the bowl, never had a problem with my finish, and have still several bowls here that we use that are some 20 or more years old.

Remember the finishing oil will take any left over polishing wax (if any) and mix that in with the finishing oil, as the polishing bar wax (very little really) does not make a hard finish and is readily absorbed in the finishing oil as I use it, that is my experience with that.

[Marvin Hasenak]

Elmer told me in telcon 5-10-08 that the Danish Oil blend tended to melt any wax residue that remained after the Tripoli buff and did not change the final finish. I have been using the process since shortly after that, and the final finish (after about 4 to 6 coats of oil/buffing and final wax) does give a very hard finish that holds up. Biggest thing is to allow ample time to dry before next step.

If the Danish oil melts the grease binders, the grease is then included with your Danish oil, that compromises your finish. The grease doesn't evaporate, in fact some of it will be stuck in the pores of some woods. The grease mixes with your Danish oil, so that you are now apply a grease Danish oil mix.

I make game calls, they are nor shelf sitters, I tried the buff of raw wood. The finish wear off a lot faster that finishing raw wood. Some of my duck calls will be out in the mud and water environment everyday during the season. On the test calls I did, I had to refinish all at least once during the season. some of them twice in one season.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

If the Danish oil melts the grease binders, the grease is then included with your Danish oil, that compromises your finish. The grease doesn't evaporate, in fact some of it will be stuck in the pores of some woods. The grease mixes with your Danish oil, so that you are now apply a grease Danish oil mix.

I make game calls, they are nor shelf sitters, I tried the buff of raw wood. The finish wear off a lot faster than finishing raw wood. Some of my duck calls will be out in the mud and water environment everyday during the season. On the test calls I did, I had to refinish all at least once during the season. some of them twice in one season.

I can hardly believe that there is a measurable difference of standing up to the environment with a good cured finish over “raw” wood against a polished wood with the same well cured finish.

The thing is that the Tripoli polish has just enough wax in it to keep the polish powder into a hard bar shape, using that to polish a piece there is not a thick layer of polish on the piece, actually there is probably hardly any polish left on the piece.

Then when using a oil finish that very small amount that is there will be mixed in with the finishing oil, let sit for a short while, and then basically everything gets wiped off of the piece, the oil and also whatever minuscule amount of wax there is in it, is wiped off as well, and like I said before, the pieces we use here every day for many years have never shown a finish problem at all.

Anyway I am not about to change my way of finishing my products, as the finish on them have stood op well and is looking good, it is protecting the wood from every day abuse in the kitchen

I have had only 2 pieces brought back to me, to ask if I would/could refinish them, one was a Black Walnut bowl that got sanitized in the dishwasher , but it did survive that treatment , the other one was an Oak bowl where the MIL of the client, placed a bouquet of flower that the client had brought home from a wedding party, in the bowl and filled it with water , found only a week or better later in a sad state, the bowl was fine the finish and look not so much

[Doug Rasmussen]

Curiosity got me, I called Beall to ask about the buffing of raw wood with the various compounds. Mr Beall wasn't available so the lady told me what she knew of it. The impression I came away with was this is meant for "renewable" type finishes, oils and waxes, and not for more permanent finishes like lacquer. She spoke of how easy it is to redo the buffing if your finish becomes water spotted.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Curiosity got me, I called Beall to ask about the buffing of raw wood with the various compounds. Mr Beall wasn't available so the lady told me what she knew of it. The impression I came away with was this is meant for "renewable" type finishes, oils and waxes, and not for more permanent finishes like lacquer. She spoke of how easy it is to redo the buffing if your finish becomes water spotted.

Well I got curious as well and started looking, found this from the Beall tool co, should read it if interested.

But just in case heres a small part of it.

finishing.jpg

http://www.bealltool.com/pdfs/woodbuff.pdf

[Russell Neyman]

I wrote a lengthily article on buffing systems that appeared in this newsletter that might be helpful.

http://www.opcaaw.com/newsletters/apr_16.pdf