Problem using buffing wheel to apply carnuba wax

[SVB]

Hi folks,

I have been trying to use a loose mop buffing wheel to apply carnuba wax and have been having some problems.

I turn and sand the item normally. Then I use the loose leaf mop to apply the wax.

I always seem to end up with an amount of wax / cotton that I chase round the piece. This mars the finish. I have experimented with less wax applied to the wheel / more wax but still end up with this residue issue.

I only use this system on small pieces so far.

Any thoughts on what I am doing wrong?

Thanks is advance,
Simon

 

[Wood spoiler]

I take it from your comments that you are only using a single buffing wheel.

Whilst I don't truly know the why's and wherefores I am aware that both the Beall ant Chestnut use three buffs, being red tripoli, white diamond and then the wax

Presumably there is a purpose in building up to the carnuba wax

Regards

Colin

 

[SVB]

Hi Colin,

Yes I am using the single wheel, usually to apply carnuba over sanding sealer and sometimes over friction polish which with hind-sight is probably not a good idea in iteself.

S

 

[Lightweeder]

Well, if I skip wheel A and go straight to B, I always regret it. Mind you, I never use C so I'll be interested to hear what these fellows have to say.

 

[CHJ]

Surface preparation is the key, and I suspect if you used friction polish/shellac then you are just melting/redistributing it.

The surface having been sealed should be buffed with fine abrasive (one or two stages as required) until the surface is a high shine with no streaks or blemishes and looks as though it is finished.
Then apply a small amount of Carnauba to the final mop (if you've glossed the stick surface at all that's enough) and go over the surface to produce a shine you did not think possible. (Think microns thickness not Yacht Varnish)

Alternately to Carnauba, apply a very thin smear of microcrystalline wax to the buffed piece, await a few minutes for solvent to dissipate and gloss away.

 

[miles_hot]

if you've applied wax over friction finish at some point I suspect that it is possible that your wax wheel has picked up some friction polish and is attempting to apply both friction polish and wax at the same time? If this is the case you need to recondition your wheel with some corse sand paper held on a stick to strip off the outer layer whilst the mop is running.

I'm worried by the fact that you're chasing cotton around the piece - by this do you mean that you're seeing a cotton residue on the work? If so this shouldn't be happening. OK I have some cotton flying off sometimes but it's never on the work. This suggests that either:
* the surface of the work is too rough and it's ripping cotton out and holding onto it - see Chas's comments
* the mop is not correct for wax
* the mop has not been conditioned (as above)

One thing to note about the wax mop is that it is both the applicator and the polisher / remover hence you need to either get the wax onto the whole thing in one quick action and then spend time polishing it or work in sections reapplying a small amount of wax each time you move sections.

Hope this helps

Miles

 

[CHJ]

I've only had experience with the Chestnut mops (and various prototypes in exploring the buffing method) and have found that using a piece of sawn hard wood is as good as anything at cleaning (transferring) the odd light contamination off the mop.
I have successfully hand washed a mop, to all an intents scrapped due to heavy contamination*, in normal washing detergent with very good effect.

*The contamination was due to using it for stripping old gunk of an item for someone and it looked more like an old letter sealing wax applicator than a polishing mop.

 

[paulm]

As a matter of interest does anybody know if the Chestnut dome mops for inside of bowls are available yet ?

Sorry for the slight hijack!

Cheers, Paul

 

[Terry Smart]

Sorry to continue the hijack...

'advance' Dome Buffs have been available at shows and they should be available to/from shops by the end of the month! Hoo-blooming-ray!

(And what's the current hold-up you ask? Waiting for samples of packaging for the mops, the sleeving we use at the moment isn't quite big enough and we're not sure if we need to go up one size or two. Until we get the samples we can't finish the design of the header card and of course we can't get them printed either.
The samples were ordered early in December, nearly everything else is ready, just this last hurdle which should have been sorted out by now! Grrrrr!)