High gloss finish

[bean15]

Hi,

Could anybody give me some tips on how to achieve a high gloss finish such as the dining table in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0mDg75zhR4

The way I normally treat wood is doing multiple layers of varnish (4-5) with wet-sanding in between. While the results are nice, it comes nowhere near the level of above video.

Thanks for any help!

 

[DaveL]

Hi bean15,

Welcome to the forum.

Your link has been caught by our spam trap, it will leave you alone once you have a few more posts to your name, here in the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0mDg75zhR4

I am not a finishing expert but I think to achieve that sort of gloss you need to apply a varnish and then polish it back, hopefully someone will be along who can offer full guidance on the subject.

 

[tigerturnings]

Hi bean15,

I have achieved that kind of effect with Rustin's plastic coating. It's a 2-part finish which you mix up and brush on. Depending on the timber, I may well fill the grain first. The plastic coating always needs at least several coats; I recently re-finished some of the interior of a Bentley with it and used probably about 15 coats, though some of these were coloured and I could have achieved the gloss with significantly fewer.

To get the gloss it must be rubbed down - I start with 400 or 600 grit wet and dry paper used wet, sand until the brush marks have gone, and work up to 1500 or 2000 grit. After that it will need to be buffed, either with Rustin's own burnishing cream or with a polishing mop in the lathe or drill. I have found the latter to be equally effective with less effort. I use a kit that was bought, if I recall rightly, from Chris Stott. Not sure what the compounds are, but the first stage is a relatively coarse brown one and it's followed by a finer white one, each on its own mop.

Edit: here's a cropped part of a photo of one of the things I finished with it. this is sapele (or similar) and I let the coating fill the grain. I applied loads of coats over the course of several months although you can do it much more rapidly than that.

HTH

Neil

 

[Argee]

I've also used Rustins Plastic Coating with great success, but I don't think I'd try it on a large table top, it would be very difficult to keep a wet edge, because it goes off fairly swiftly. In a dust-free atmosphere, it's quite self-levelling, so the cleaner the environment, the less de-nibbing required.

For smaller pieces, though, it is hard to beat if that's the finish you're after, provided you follow the instructions and are prepared to work on the burnishing.

Ray.

 

[bean15]

Wow, this is some good information. Thanks a lot guys. And thank you for the welcome DaveL.

Reading the replies has made me really excited, I'll have a look at Rustin's plastic coating and burnishing cream tomorrow.

Is the Rustin's coating not similar to what I can achieve with a regular polyurethane finish? And where did you guys find 1500/2000 grit paper?

Also I've never buffed in my life. Can I just get a single mop with a drill fit and do it that way (I realise this mickey mouse question may raise some eyebrows)?

 

[tigerturnings]

Argee makes a good point - I've only ever used RPC on fairly small items. I think for larger areas you can buy similar 2-pack lacquer finishes from e.g. Morrells, but they're intended for spraying by industrial users.

I'm not entirely sure, but I think the RPC dries considerably harder than the usual 1-pack polyurethane varnish, which is what makes it more suitable for buffing.

Unlike polyurethane, it is also - they claim - non yellowing. I only started using it a couple of years ago so I don't yet have much experience to test that claim.

My last bit of buffing was carried out with two 6" mops on a heavy duty hand held drill, run it somewhere between about 1000-1500rpm ideally. For mops and an adapter to use them in a drill, have a look at e.g. http://www.axminster.co.uk/category-Polishing-Mops-and-Adaptors-207984.htm. Take great care not to let the mop spindle adaptor (or the teeth of the drill chuck) touch the workpeice... DAMHIKT!

I don't know exactly which mops I have, or I'd give part numbers.

Axminster also do the wet and dry paper up to 2500 grit.

Neil

 

[bean15]

Brilliant, thanks for the links. I will be ordering a spray gun and the Rustin's products mentioned above.

I'll apply 8-9 layers with wetsanding in between. Should I just follow the instructions on the for drying time or would it be better to leave drying overnight?

 

[tigerturnings]

I've never sprayed the stuff before.

Please be sure to protect yourself adequately from the mist/fumes, it certainly smells very unpleasant. The health and safety sheet says it is harmful and irritant.

As for the drying time, I usually leave 2 or more hours between coats.

To quote the instructions, "You can apply another coat as soon as the first is touch dry even though it is not completely hard." It seems that leaving a day between coats may actually be worse - apparently "the film goes through a critical stage where it is still soft enough to be affected by the solvents in the next coat of plastic coating, but is too hard to be redissolved, and at this stage the film swells causing the surface to become wrinkled."

 

[seaco]

Hi Bean

Welcome to the nuthouse, I have srayed RPC on bonsai stands and it works well, leaving the coats about an hour in between.

We did spray one and two days later decided it needed another and it reacted badly, it seems that when the RPC fully hardens then the new wet coat actually reacts and softens the surface almost like varnish remover?

Does anyone know how to get around this?