Buffing Questions

Excerpts from The Message Boards

Barry Irby asked: I just finished buffing a cherry bowl with the Beale System. I used Tripoli and White Diamond, but not the wax. Would it be acceptable to put lacquer on it now? I understand the Carnauba wax and lacquer are not fully compatible, but what about now if I did not use the wax? What is the binder in the tripoli? It appeared waxy. I think I put too much on the wheel and left some skid marks. Cleaned the wheel and buffed them off. What about oil based finishes? Would there be less of a conflict with the Beale System components? I am trying to make a bowl that could be used for a salad bowl, but I suspect they won't actually use it. I would like for the cherry to pop. Would oil be better?

Carole in VA: Barry, unless I misread your post, I do everything the opposite of what you are doing. The finish goes on first (whatever you want to use) and the buffing is last. Although they say all oil finishes are food safe when fully cured, if you are concerned, you could use something like Tried &amp True finish which I think is a mix of BLO and beeswax (don't have the can handy so I can't check) with no solvents.

Brian Hahn in SW Wisconsin: The binder/vehicle for the buffing compound bars is a wax. I would clean the surface with solvent (lacquer thinner in your case) before applying a finish. Otherwise you'll probably have problems. Same thing for an oil finish—clean with mineral spirits before applying the finish. You might get lucky with a shellac finish, but I'd clean the clean the surface anyhow just to be safe.

Russ Fairfield: There is nothing different about mixing waxes and finishes when they are applied with a buffing wheel. Wax is wax, and it will have the same effect on the finish, regardless how it is applied.

The binder in the Tripoli is tallow, animal fat. The binder in the White Diamond varies with who made it. Some use paraffin, and some is a combination of paraffin and carnauba. I have no idea what is in the Beale version. It seems to be on the harder side, so I would suspect that it has a lot of Carnauba in it.

There is no problem with putting lacquer on the wood after buffing it with the White Diamond. Just make sure you have removed all the white residue with a paper towel, and use a scrub brush or a tooth brush to clean out any that may be in the grain or voids. If you are going to use a lacquer, I recommend that the first coat of lacquer be applied with a brush, and a sloppy heavy coat; and that the wood be wiped as clean as possible as quickly as possible before the lacquer starts to dry. Use some thinner if necessary. Buff the wood with steel wool if there are any streaks in the lacquer. Doing this cleans the surface of all residual wax and forms a primer coat so the following can be sprayed or brushed without any problems from the wax.

The worst that can happen from any residual wax that is on the wood is that it will be absorbed into the lacquer primer coat and act as a plasticizer. That will make the lacquer film softer than it would have been without it. This could be a good thing in the long term because it will become less brittle with age. However in the short term, it will make it more easily damaged by buffing should you choose to do that.

If you are going to buff the lacquer finish after it has dried, it would be better to apply it before buffing, not after.

For oil based finishes, everything I said about lacquer is the same. The difference is that the oil finish will remain more flexible in the long term, and less likely to crack with wood movement.

My opinion on popping the grain is that it has more to do with sanding than what finish we use. Sanding to the finer grits seals the wood, and the finer you sand, the more the wood is sealed. There will always be a difference in the absorption of the finish at any degree of sanding, and the finer the sanding grit, the more the grain difference is accented. I typically sand to 600-grit, and sometimes go to 1200, followed with burnishing with grocery bag paper. Although I have always been told differently, I have never had a finish fail because the wood was polished to too fine a surface.

Once sanded, you can pop the grain with either lacquer or an oil based finish. The oil may be easier because of its natural tendency to make end grain much darker than the flat grain, meaning you can get a grain accent with less sanding, but the sacrifice is that the accented grain may have a blotchy appearance. That blotchy appearance will disappear as the wood is sanded to finer grits. Taken to a higher polish before putting on a finish, the higher gloss of the lacquer will always be a brighter accent than an oil finish.

I think that most of us prefer the oil finishes because they are easier to apply, shop dust is less of a problem, and there are fewer long term problems with yellowing and brittleness, unless we use a better grade of lacquer than Deft. A problem with buffing wheels is that, if the Tripoli residue isn't wiped from the wood, it will contaminate the White Diamond wheel. And, if the white powder isn't removed from the wood after the White Diamond wheel, in time there will be abrasives in the wax wheel.

No, we don't have to wipe the wood after each wheel, and the directions tell us that we don't have to—but there will be fewer buffing problems, and the wheels will do a better job by several years longer if there is no carry-over of abrasives to the other wheels.

Wet lacquer and shellac are dust magnets. It is like there is a static charge that attracts the airborne dust. The oil finish is usually wiped on, and then wiped dry, or it should be. Therefore, it is a thinner and dryer film after each application. Dust just doesn't stick to it as much.

If the oil was wiped dry, most accumulated dust can be wiped off of the cured oil finish. What we miss is easily removed when we buff the surface with steel wool before the next coat. That is more difficult to do with lacquer or shellac.

Earl Eyre: According to the Beale video, the tripoli has oil in it. The white diamond removes the oil and leaves the piece in its original state. If you didn't use finish, then the piece is clean. If you used finish then all you have is finish. So should be no problem applying lacquer. Then do all three steps! Final step is to buff with the wax.

You can view the video here: Woodcraft video.