Polishing wood for finish

[Tayler_mann]

So I just purchased a good majority of the accessories for polishing with the 150 Rotex. My plan is to do some practice on my own pieces to see how well a high polish holds up. So I have a few questions on the process before I shred a sheepskin pad or sponge.

I am building a picture frame out of wenge and would like to do a chamfer on the inside and a very slight round over on the outside, or possibly, another chamfer. Than of course I will rabbet in the 10mm pocket for the picture, glass, and backing to set in. So if I decide to do a polish for the base of sealing my wood I need to do all sides and groves equally. My question is how easy is it to keep nice hard corners and get inside groves and such with the interface pads and going through all the grits. Another option I had thought of was applying a natural oil over the entire frame and than a thin, very thin, layer of wax and than just polishing the face of the frame to keep it simple.

I appreciate any help on this topic or any advice as I am brand new to the polishing of wood world.

 

[ear3]

I would be worried about using the RO150 on a small chamfer, round over or rabbet.  This sounds like more of a job for an RO90, D/Rts 400 or LS130, or even just a hand sand. How high are you going with the grits?  Once it's sanded polishing won't be a problem.

 

[Tayler_mann]

I would be worried about using the RO150 on a small chamfer, round over or rabbet.  This sounds like more of a job for an RO90, D/Rts 400 or LS130, or even just a hand sand. How high are you going with the grits?  Once it's sanded polishing won't be a problem.

I was going to sand through the following grits 180, 220, 400, 1000 for paper than somewhere between 5,000 - 11,000 with compound and pads.

 

[mouppe]

You won't be able to keep a crisp edge with a sander, even if you use a hard pad etc. (Others may disagree.) I would wrap a piece of wood (cork is best if you have it) with the sandpaper and work it by hand. You only need to sand to 220. With wenge you won't need to use a grain filler.

After 220, you can start to apply the finish. I would brush on some thin shellac, then rub it out with 320 grit by hand. Use the same wooden block. Leave the dust and reapply the shellac. You can polish the shellac to a high gloss if you like. Since it's a picture frame, you don't need to go down a polyurethane route or anything like that. If you want you can buff out a wax on top of the shellac but it isn't necessary.

All the higher grits may be suitable for polishing metal and plastics, but above 220 you're polishing the finish here, not the wood.

 

[ear3]

I haven't used Wenge before, but I would note that there is an advantage to sanding in the higher grits in terms of the appearance of certain woods, as opposed to just a smoothness that would be negated by the application of a clearcoat.  I recently did a piece in bloodwood that I sanded up to 2000, and the irridescent effect only kicked in at 800 grit.  I actually prefer just to oil and wax things that are not going to be taking a lot of handling.  BTW, 400 to 1000 is a big jump, so you will probably have to sand for a longer period with the 1000 to get rid of the 400 scratches.

 

[sancho57]

I use the RTS 400 for that. The RO 150 IMO is to big for that application.

 

[bertv]

The RO needs a fairly large surface to ‘sit' on, or it will start to wobble. The 150 is no good for frames. I don't have a 90 (yet), so cannot speak for it.

 

[Tayler_mann]

So did a sample or two tonight as my polishing accessories got delivered this afternoon. The wenge turned out pretty nice. The dark grain of the wenge was harder do polished high gloss and the lighter grain stayed at a fairly matte finish. I found the jump from 400-1000 really not that bad. There are no visible scratches at all with the final polish. I am still waiting for my 11,000 and cannot wait. I agree that a lot of exotic woods and formation woods do not pop until you hit a higher grit. I think my plan is going to be to polish first, than do a natural oil finish of some kind and do a final polish again and repeat as needed. Here is a picture of the wenge sample I did this evening.

 

[ear3]

Looks great! Gotta get me some Wenger now.

 

[bkharman]

Looks great! Gotta get me some Wenger now.

At least you didn't say "Gotta get me some Winger now."

Cheers. Bryan.

 

[Tayler_mann]

So now I have one more question to add after getting started polishing. I did a piece of mahogany the other day and used both the sponge and the sheepskin with the 5,000 grit. The sponge seemed to work much faster and have a higher luster than the sheepskin but on the wenge the sheepskin acceded the sponge by far. How do you pick sponge or sheepskin? Also, when my 11,000 compound arrives do I skip from 1,500 granat to 11,000 polishing compound or so I need to start at 5,000 first?

 

[rvieceli]

have you seen this video?

http://festoolownersgroup.com/festool-how-to/swirl-free-finishes-with-festool-sanders/msg330065/#msg330065

 

[Tayler_mann]

have you seen this video?

http://festoolownersgroup.com/festool-how-to/swirl-free-finishes-with-festool-sanders/msg330065/#msg330065

I have watched the video and it did a good preliminary start for me. However, my question is how do you pick the sheepskin or sponge. The wenge I polished worked better with the sheepskin and the sponge worked better on the mahogany. So how do I decifer why one worked better on the other? I know he uses both compounds as well I guess I just wanted to know if I could skip 5000 and go to 11,000 and maybe he answers that question in the video and I don't remember it. That is a very good possibility since when I have time to watch a video is when I'm on the royal throne and that is about the only time I have to do that. The woman, skydiving, and two businesses is way to much work for one guy. [big grin]

 

[ear3]

[member=42383]Tayler_mann[/member] That's interesting -- I only have the sheepskin pad for polishing.  What's the part number for the sponge you used on the Mahogany?

Just in case you don't know about it already, I find the the Platin pads work really well to get additional sheen once you run through the Granat.  If you don't mind dropping a few more bucks, you might consider getting the Platin 2000 (they also make 4000) as the final sand before polish.

So now I have one more question to add after getting started polishing. I did a piece of mahogany the other day and used both the sponge and the sheepskin with the 5,000 grit. The sponge seemed to work much faster and have a higher luster than the sheepskin but on the wenge the sheepskin acceded the sponge by far. How do you pick sponge or sheepskin? Also, when my 11,000 compound arrives do I skip from 1,500 granat to 11,000 polishing compound or so I need to start at 5,000 first?

 

[Tayler_mann]

[member=42383]Tayler_mann[/member] That's interesting -- I only have the sheepskin pad for polishing.  What's the part number for the sponge you used on the Mahogany?

Just in case you don't know about it already, I find the the Platin pads work really well to get additional sheen once you run through the Granat.  If you don't mind dropping a few more bucks, you might consider getting the Platin 2000 (they also make 4000) as the final sand before polish.

So now I have one more question to add after getting started polishing. I did a piece of mahogany the other day and used both the sponge and the sheepskin with the 5,000 grit. The sponge seemed to work much faster and have a higher luster than the sheepskin but on the wenge the sheepskin acceded the sponge by far. How do you pick sponge or sheepskin? Also, when my 11,000 compound arrives do I skip from 1,500 granat to 11,000 polishing compound or so I need to start at 5,000 first?

I did some tests again last night and I think it was a beginner thing. The orange sponge with the 5,000 is way faster, however, you need to be careful on the edges. The other thing I did notice is that since the wenge in sampling has lots of hard and soft grain the sheepskin polishes the softer grain a lot better since it sits slightly below the harder grain. I also did another sample last night with a chamfer on it and with my RO 150 used it for the chamfer after 220 grit just fine without making it wavy or misfigured. I also did try an edge with my RTS and it did work a lot easier just slower. Than I did a finish test and I tried a shellac layer and on the same piece on the opposite side did a teak oil rub. Tonight after I finish a few projects and let the sample sit I am going to start with 400 grit and re-polish the sample. I can gurantee at this point though the teak oil will win the competition. It really soaked in well actually to the point where I could keep putting it on every 15 for a few hours. I also hit it with 800 grit vlies at a midpoint to work it in a little. I am anxious to polish it later today and see what the end result is.