Hi,
I know someone who turns those mushrooms and they all look really shiny.. He must polish them with something, because they aren't varnished..
What do you think he uses?
Also, With my glasses box (pictures in alt.binaries.pictures.woodworking) I have covered the top edges in the green snooker table stuff.. but I am making another one where I just intend polishing them. It is actually cross-grain so I am not sure what I can use.
Cheers,
Sam
He probably burnishes them. Grabs a handful of shavings (that wood or softer - DAMHIKT) and holds them against the spinning 'shroom. Heats and hardens the surface, and polishes at the same time.
Some turners buy grades of sandpaper to 2000 or more to do the same.
A lathe. If you have a spinning motor to do the work for you, you can use all sorts of weird polishing techniques that just aren't workable on flat stuff. Quite possibly he uses the same shellac many other people do, but applies it as a "friction polish" -- hold a tiny square of cloth against the spinning wood and drip shellac onto it. As well as the solvent evaporating, there's also a hot-melt effect.
Only use 2" squares of cloth on spinning lathework. Anything bigger might wrap round your fingers (as you ought to see this at least once in your life before you do it to your own hand, web search on "degloving injury"). The best fabric to use is cotton or linen, with no dye in it that might colour the work. I use the remains of my old washed-out blue denim workshop shirts. For French polishing by hand, I use old boxer shorts - you need that long-staple Egyptian cotton for them to not wear out with the pumice.
Like toothbrushes, always wear the _new_ ones yourself and use the _old_ ones in the workshop. If you thought a toothbrush full of wax polish was bad, just try boxer shorts full of shellac and pumice.
For putting the shellac on, the best bottles are the little plastic bottles with the narrow spout that are used in hair dye kits.
Time you got yourself some shellac (read
Axminster will sell you some pale blonde, or Screwfix (cheaper) will sell you a golden brown or a dark button. If you leave the Screwfix bottle standing quietly for a week you'll see the wax settle out at the bottom. Decant the top 3/4 into another bottle and use that as polish, leaving the remainder as sanding sealer.
Store shellac in plastic bottles; they don't break when you drop them, and the tops have a habit of gluing themselves in place. You can take waterpump pliers to the top on a plastic bottle, but on a glass bottle you might break it.
Get yourself a brush to apply the shellac. An artist's watercolour brush is best, ideally a 1/2" filbert shape , and it should have synthetic bristles made of Golden Taklon. These needn't be expensive
- I used to buy top-quality Daler-Rowney ones (the blue handles are the right ones), but now I buy cheap versions for 2 or 3 quid. It's the same bristle fibre.
Reading the arcane books of polishing technique will tell you a lot more. It'll tell you to use a rubber not a brush, and how to French polish (which is usually described incorrectly anyway). Some will also tell you to only use the freshest of button shellac, hand-ground by monks on the shores of Tibet, and dissolved in the purest grain alcohol. Ignore all this, buy the Screwfix cheap stuff and a brush, just get out there and use some of it. Worry about the details later.
[snip]
Please explain what "sanding sealer" will do and when to use it.
;)
Jois
Some wood, mainly soft softwoods, is hard to sand because the surface is somewhat unstable. It's easier to work with if you coat it first with a "sanding sealer". A good one to use is shellac, and you can use the very lowest grades. Shellac for finishing is best used "dewaxed", but a little wax in sanding sealer makes it easier to work. The rough waxy shellac from the bottom of the bottle is just right for this.
On Thu, 18 Nov 2004 07:18:41 -0000, "SB" vaguely proposed a theory ......and in reply I say!:
remove ns from my header address to reply via email
hmmmm ANGLERsam indeed, I feel
At least four rather shallow posts. No replies to any of the replies.
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