>As you all know, I am new to finishing with Lacquer. I am working on finishing a couple of lacquered vases now, and I have a question.
My past lacquered stuff has been finished glossy. I sanded completely smooth with 2000 grit, and then buffed out with 3M Finess-it.
These pieces, I think that I want a satin finish. I have learned from Russ and David Woodruff that that you can accomplish this with #0000 steel wool - buffing at 90 and 45 degree angles.
My question, is there any reason for me to go from the 2000 grit, to buffed glossy, before "Dulling" it. Or can I just go from 2000 grit finish to the steel wool.
>Mark, why not just use either the satin or the semi gloss lacquer. that way it will already have a less than glossy finish. Just buff up the rough spots and your there. Those two finishes both have a filler (silica??) that dulls the finish but is not noticable even with several coats. I use the satin as a starting coat because the filler helps to fill the wood and aids in the sanding...
>I don't know what is done for turnings, but for furniture it is customary to build up gloss coats and then dull with a final coat of delustered material. this approach results in more depth and clarity.
There is not enough silica in delustered lacquer to be significant as a filler and I have not found delustered lacquer to sand any better or worse than gloss.
For furniture, if one just wants a duller finish, apply a top coat of delustered lacquer. However, if glass smoothness as well as dullness is desired, than apply gloss coats to build the film thickness, grind smooth with about 360 grit wet or dry paper lubricated with something and then buff back to the desired luster. Steel wool, steel wool and wax ( I like the addition of wax as lubricant), grey or white 3M pads, pumice or various automotive rubbing compounds all are fine. Synthetic "steel" wool is now available and it is less messy, especially for porous woods that can catch steel wool fibers.
>It all depends on how good a finish you want. It has always been my observation that you will get back what you have put into a high-build lacquer finish. The better the finish BEFORE using the steel wool, the better it will be AFTER you have used it.
A lacquer finish will reward us for everything we put into it. The more work that is put into a lacquer finish, the better it will be. And, that includes the preparation of the wood before we start finishing. A lacquer finish will always look better on wood that looks finished before we put anything on it.
The difference between a gloss and a satin finish is in the reflection of light. When the gloss surface is buffed, the light is scattered ON the surface; and the depth and clarity of the surface film are retained. When particles are used in a low-gloss or satin finish, the light is scattered IN the finish; and there is a sacrifice of both depth and clarity. Which one of these we use will depend on much work we are willing to put into the wood and the finish, and our expectations of the finished product.
The arguement on the merits of gloss-killers vs. surface buffing is an old one. My advice is to try one of each. If you can tell the difference, then use the one that looks better. If you can't tell the difference, then use the one that is easiest.
>HI Mark, I use a semi-gloss lacquer, but polished the sameway as I would with high- gloss. It will come out looking less glossy, but scratch-free.
Try this....when waxing the piece, I use butcher's wax on a cloth dipped in extra fine automotive polishing compound. I keep doing this , polishing in a circular motion. Buff..voila! Not a visible scratch.
>Waxes are a complex subject that has never been adequately covered in the literature. I will try to answer your question without writing a book on waxes.
There are a couple things at work here. The wax lubricates the rubbing compound, and the result is a less agressive abrasive than it would have been without the wax. We are, in effect, rubbing with a finer abrasive. Mineral Oil can be substituted for the wax, but the residual oil will have to be removed. Wax can remain on the surface where it can become an enhancement.
The opposite is also true, and we could make a powdered rubbing compound more agressive if we were to use water with it.
There is nothing that has the clarity of the highly polished water-white lacquer. The common problem with applying a wax over this finish is that the wax is not as clear as the finish under it. Some waxes are more opaque than others. A Microcrystaline (Renaissance) wax has the highest clarity, and beeswax has the least. Everything else is somewhere in between. All waxes become more opaque with time as they absorb moisture from the air.
For these reasons, wax on top of a gloss is best when it is thin. And by thin, I mean measured in molecules of thickness. Anything thicker than this will reduce the gloss of the surface, and be more effected by moisture in the air. This is not how most of us apply a wax. Wax always responds better to a stiff brushing (or a buffing wheel) than buffing with a soft cloth because the brush reduces the thickness of the wax and improves its clarity. The advantage of the Renaissance is that it is compounded so that a microscopic thin film is possible, and the microcrystaline is more moisture resistant than other waxes.
Regardless of the type of wax, that very thin film of wax is what is left behind when it is used in combination with an abrasive compound. While wiping off the abrasive compound, we are also abrading the residual wax and reducing its thickness. The remaining thin film of wax on the surface fills the scratch pattern left by the abrasive which improves the surface gloss.
The problem is, that like any wax, it will disappear with time. For that reason, I prefer to use Mineral Oil to lubricate a polishing compound. The residual Oil is removed with Mineral Spirits, and there is nothing left on the surface that will disappear with time.
>I thought more explanation would be in order for why the abrasive compound acts like a finer grit when wax or oil is used with it.
Think of the abrasive particles being suspended in the thick thick film of wax or oil and floating ABOVE the surface. The abrasive particles are barely touching the surface and they are removing very little material as they are moved across the surface.
When the abrasive particles are used with a thinner liquid, like water, they are no longer suspended above the surface. Rather they are deposited ON the surface and forced INTO the surface. Thus, they cut a much deeper, and wider, groove in the surface of the finish. We can substitute a solvent such as Mineral Spirits or Kerosene for the water to accomplish the same thing.
This difference in the depth of the grooves in the surface of the finish causes a difference in the reflectivity of light from the surface; and the finish with the shallower grooves will have a glossier appearance than the one with deeper and wider grooves.
