Anybody ever use this?

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timbertones

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Hi All,

I found a site (new to me) with a great sounding friction polish and was wondering if any of you has experience with it:

Turner's Magic Friction Polish. The company is WoodWrite, Ltd. Here's a link: (http://www.woodwriteltd.com/turnmagi.htm)
They have gloss, semi-gloss, and a sealer.

They make some pretty strong claims about durability and ease of use.

Can anybody substantiate the claims?

Thanks, Matt
 
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Rudy Vey

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Actually, the Woodturners Magic does not contain waxes like Hut's or Mylands friction polish. I tried it a few times, it has much more solvents than the two other (including Toluene) and I do not like the smell of it at all. Go either with one of the wax/shellac products or do a CA finish.

Rudy
 

dw

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Rudy,

But, aside from the smell (CA has got to be just as bad) wha are the results like? Did you get a real high gloss, glassy shine? Did you micromesh it and/or buff it with a polishing compound like white diamond or PP?

I am looking for an alternative to CA but to tell the truth I love the depth and glassiness of a good CA finish. Plus they won't get dingy and tired with perspieration and heat from your body. So I'm real interested in Turner's Magic.

Thanks for any input.
 

RussFairfield

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This product is another way to sell a lacquer at a higher price (my opinion). It may be a butyrate rather than a nitrocellulose lacquer, it may have more solids and different thinners, and it may be easier to apply; but the finish on the pen is a lacquer fim, same as you would get from Deft.

You can try it if you wish, just be aware of what it is.

Look through the recent archives of this and the Yahoo site. There have been a lot of messages on using Deft lacquer as a finish.

You can read my article on Friction Polishes at:

http://www.woodcentral.com/russ/finish10.shtml

Some folks are using Deft as a "dipping" finish, and it doesn't get any easier than that.
 

dw

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Russ,

Thanks for the information. I talked to the "boss"(?) at WoodWrite yesterday. The advantage to this product, it seems to me, is that you can put it on sort of like a friction polish and after three coats or so, it is dry to the touch. So you can take the barrels off the lathe and set them aside to cure overnight. The upshot is that that part of the process is reasonably fast and clears your lathe for further work.

So far so good.

All my pens have had a CA finish so far (even the first) so I'm not familiar with the possiblities of laquer. Can Deft...or Turner's Magic...be brought to a high...really high...gloss (like CA) with MM or White diamond and a buffing wheel? After it has cured, of course?

That would be the deciding factor for me.
 

RussFairfield

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There is a general rule that the more durable the finish the more work has to go into it. Quick and durable do not go together.

Lacquer is a quicker finish than CA, and there is nothing that will take a higher polish than lacquer that has cured for a week. But the surface film is softer than CA, and it will not retain its gloss as long when the pen is used.

It may not be as shiny when new, but the polished CA surface will last longer because it is a harder surface.

My advice (opinion) depends on what plating you are using on your pen parts - If you are using Ti-Gold, then stay with the CA finish. If you are using the less expensive 24k gold, then use the lacquer because there is no reason to spend the extra time on a finish that will outlast the plating.
 

dw

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Russ,

Thanks again...that's exactly the info I was looking for. But it raises another question...one I haven't seen answered definitively or even explored in any depth on any of these discussion forums.

I have had mixed results with CA...which is what makes me look at other alternatives. I've gotten absolutely spectacular results--brilliant, even, and consistent--with CA...sometimes. Other times the results are not so good. Sometimes I'll get "flat" or dead areas on a pen barrel where the finish doesn't shine a brilliantly as surrounding areas. I have looked closely at the finish at such times and I am sure (well, relatively sure) that the problem is in the CA itself not in the way it was applied or how thick it is . In other words, I'm not seeing exposed wood. I've speculated that it has to do with oils or resins in the wood, on your fingers and /or on the applicator medium--such as with a CA/BLO finish. The CA/BLO finishes that I have done seem to be universally "duller" or, some would say "softer" than a straight CA finish alone. But I can't seem to get results consistent enough to verify my theories one way or the other. I've done great CA finishes on olivewood (typically somewhat oily) and had mixed result on olivewood the next day. I've had problems with cocobolo and none with blackwood. Small areas of dull on mesquite...on a handle...and none on mesquite pens.

Using Hut plastic polish, I can buff these dead areas out to a great extent but not all the way. I wonder if it is bad CA (got it from Packard) or bad technique or what?

If you ...or anyone else has any thoughts on this matter, I'd welcome them. I think this is a topic for serious...I mean *serious* :D...discussion.
 

RussFairfield

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The problem is that the glossier the finish, the smaller the differences in the wood surface that will be revealed.

The fact that there are some pieces of wood, or spots on a piece of wood, where the finish is good would make me believe that there is nothing wrong with your application or how you are doing it.

The fact that there are dull spots of various size would make me suspect that there is some minor difference in the wood grain in those areas. This could be grain direction or something else that would make light to reflect differently from the surface or for absorbtion of more finish in those places. What you are seeing is not exposed wood, but differences in the surface of the wood under the finish.

I would recommend additional coats of finish and buffing before blaming the finishing products. These differences in wood grain will continue to be seen until the entire pen barrel is covered with a solid and uniform thickness of finish. Even then, any variations in the reflection of light from the surface of the wood may appear to be a difference in gloss.

The other thing that may cause the dull spots is that you may not be sanding to a fine enough grit. Sanding to 2500-grit or 12,000-MicroMesh (they are the same thing) will burnish the wood surface and level any differences in the wood grain. If you are not sanding these fine grits, you should be.
 

dw

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Russ,

Thanks! You know, I think you may have hit on it...or on something. I've not been sanding the wood that fine. Maybe to 400 and then some scotch bright stuff very quickly. Then I've been applying three coats of thin, one coat of thick and another coat of thin before sanding to 12000MM. Occasionally, I sand in-between coats with 400 just top level bad lumps or unevenness if it occurs.

In any case, what you said makes such sense, I'm gonna try sanding all the way to 12000 before putting on the CA on the very next pen.

I'll let you know what I come up with.
 

Rudy Vey

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Originally posted by dw
<br />Rudy,

But, aside from the smell (CA has got to be just as bad) wha are the results like? Did you get a real high gloss, glassy shine? Did you micromesh it and/or buff it with a polishing compound like white diamond or PP?

I am looking for an alternative to CA but to tell the truth I love the depth and glassiness of a good CA finish. Plus they won't get dingy and tired with perspieration and heat from your body. So I'm real interested in Turner's Magic.

Thanks for any input.

No, I never got really a high gloss or any decent build-up of the finish, and I always use MM up to 12000 before finishing. I think you get higher gloss and depth with CA.

Rudy
 
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