Home made friction polish

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One of the guys at Woodcraft suggested I try the toothpaste tube of white honing compound they sell for sharpening cutting tools for a polish for my plastic pens. It worked like a champ! It has a great aggressive action which was perfect for removing the fine sanding lines that 800 grit left. I got some optical quality reflecting surfaces when used that.
 
Mine's not terribly original but here it is (works very well)

1 unit 3lb clear shellac
1 unit methyl hydrate (denatured alcohol)
1/4 unit BLO
1/4 unit paint thinner

I think it will dry faster with a bit less blo. Some add wax, I do not.

Saturate a piece of cotton (old boxer shorts?) and apply to the workpiece turning at a high rpm until the friction (heat) dries the cloth and the piece is polished.
 
My Friction polish recipe is the same as above with the addition of some bees wax. I will have to say I stopped using it because I felt the finish wore off way to fast. I now use Mylands and have had better results. I once found reipiec for Shellac based and lacquer based polish posted by Russ Fairfield, never tried the laquer based.
 
Unfortunately shellac dissolves in alcohol. It never really cures. It is also affected by water. So it is not the best as a pen finish.

Shellac is a very good sanding sealer. You can put any kind of finish on it, CA, poly, laquer, etc., and it will adhere to the shellac. It is called the universal sealer.
 
Hey Fred, why is it that you say exactly what I mean only you can do it in two short paragraphs and I take a page?[:D] You are EXACTLY right about shellac. It fills, seals and shines, but those danged beetles that produce the lac don't know from booze! [8D]
 
Seems like the fastest and easiest ones to apply are the fastest and ones to wear off. When I am doing custom orders I always explain to my customer that a friction finish will look nice for a short while but will take a lot of maintenance with frequent waxings if the pen is going to be used much and it makes a nice finish if it is only going to be used as a show piece. But I explain that a good laquer finish will last the life of the pen and keep its original shine with no maintenance and for that I charge an extra $5.00 per pen. If they want just a temporary friction finish, I have found that Mylands has worked the best for me after trying various friction polishes. Some like the CA finish and I understand that it is fairly equal to a laquer finish but I never mastered the CA technique and I just find the laquer method so much easier.

On the other hand, I have heard it said that some think that a customer wants to see the friction finish wear of in a short period of time to give the pen a certain patina ? or personal usage feel and look ? or something like that. ? I could never understand that concept so I shy away from such ways as an excuse for a quick and easy friction finish because I just dont like the looks of a pen with the finish half worn off.
But that is not to take away from anyone that beleives in that sort of thing. It is just my personal feelings about it.
W.Y.
 
I guess I'm one of the people Bill speaks of[:I]; I like the 'natural' look of the wood after the initial finish wears, and all finishes will eventually wear, even laquer. Two caveats: the finish should wear evenly and the wood under the finish should look good enough to stand on its own without a shiny finish. I'm pretty sure that laquer won't wear evenly. The rosewoods and burls generally fill the bill of 'looking good' but they are pricey. Cocobolo is $60bf where I live. However, that's generally the quality of wood I use for pens that I sell or give to friends, and my little 'card' explains the finish, it's upkeep and limitations.

I've put straight laquer on a few pens using Bill's application method, which he kindly explained, and his brand of laquer. It took about as long to apply as the friction polish but a bit more fiddly. I didn't like the result so I 'turned' it off. I guess when it comes to preferred finishes, one size does not fit all[:)].

I guess for some wood you just would not like the finish to come off too soon[;)]. On those I suggest friction polish as a sanding sealer then laquer. I've tried this on a few canarywood pens and the results are quite good, a deeper shine than either one by itself. Besides, I have a quart of very expensive laquer to use up[:D].
 
I wipe on thin CA, resand and then use a laquer finish.
1/3 Deft gloss laquer
1/3 BLO
1/3 Laquer thinner

Apply with a paper towel in several (many) thin coats. Then depending on the wood I may buff using white diamond. I finish buffing with a couple coats of Renaissance wax. I've only been turning pens since last June so I don't know how long the finish will look over the long haul but it is fast and looks good.

Stuart Johnson
Red Oak, Texas
 
Stuart, you mentioned buffing with white diamond. Would you mind explaining how you handle that? Type of wheel, where do you mount it, etc. Thanks!
 
For the lacquer-based users:

(1) How many coats?

(2) How long between the last coat and wax like renaissance?

(3) Are you using a sanding sealer prior to applying?
 
I do lacquer for my wood ring inlays and wood pens. I do around 4 coats letting them dry around an hour, or a half hour if I place it near the intake of the air handler so there is good air flow. I sand with the yellow 3M sanding sponge (350 grit) between each coat. I do Renaissance about a half hour later. It seems to work pretty well for me.

I had to do a rush ring last night, so I tried one with CA and another with lacquer simultaneously in case one cracked. The CA was quick and did a great job on the Maple Burl that I did.
 
When I use the Beal system for the white diamond and buffing the Renaissance wax. I will normally have eight or nine thin coats for the laquer,BLO thinner solution. I fold up a paper towel to several thicknesses and add a little. It is applied with the lathe around 2100 rpm and then rubbed with the dry end of he toweling. This is repeated eight or nine times. Depending on how many pens I am making I'll either move to buffing / waxing or set it aside for later.
 
I would like to try the lacquer, blo and thinner polish but I can't seem to find anything but cans of aerosol lacquers here in Canada. I go to a paint store and ask for a can of lacquer and they want to sell me varathane. The tin of lacquer I have is water-borne and I doubt it would mix with oil[:(]. Question is, where do I buy a tin of solvent based lacquer? (I checked, it is spelled with a 'c'[:D])
 
What is BLO??





Originally posted by thostorey
<br />Mine's not terribly original but here it is (works very well)

1 unit 3lb clear shellac
1 unit methyl hydrate (denatured alcohol)
1/4 unit BLO
1/4 unit paint thinner

I think it will dry faster with a bit less blo. Some add wax, I do not.

Saturate a piece of cotton (old boxer shorts?) and apply to the workpiece turning at a high rpm until the friction (heat) dries the cloth and the piece is polished.
Click to expand...
 
BLO is the common abbreviation for boiled linseed oil. It is not really boiled, but it's drying characteristics are changed by the addition of chemicals including arsenic, beryllium, chromium, cadmium and nickel.
 
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