Buffing Polish

I have a question on the various polishes used to bring up a nice shine and have seen mention of 'White Jewellers Rouge' for use on lighter coloured woods and 'Jewellers Rouge' on darker woods

OK for starters I am familiar with 'Jewellers Rouge', but what is this 'White Jewellers Rouge' ? It seems a contradiction in itself. White is well... White and Rouge is Red (French) so we have some compound called 'White Jewellers Red' :)

On this page I found a reasonable table of comparison

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Though in this case I see 'White Rouge; is this 'White Jewellers Rouge' ? And based on the table layout it implies it is coarser than 'Jewellers Rouge'

I have also seen 'Gold Rouge' mentioned.

So how do we find what is really what

Reply to
John
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As you know, rouge is red. White buffing compound is just that. Some people call anything of that type rouge out of ignorance.

Reply to
CW

There is a red , a white and a green in my beall buffing set. I have also seen a gold at the woodcraft store, it is mostly used on strops for sharpen knifes.

The red , green and white a different levels of buffing

Randy

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Reply to
randyswoodshoop

I very much doubt that any of this stuff was originally designed for polishing wood. Some compounds may have been modified a bit for wood, but mostly it is probably just marketing an existing product that happens to work on wood.

So if you want to better understand, best to go to a decent source of information. Ganoksin is a respected source for the jewellery trade (not just precious metals) - and the compounds normally mentioned around wood are based on jewellery/metal/plastic use.

To the Ganoksin text I'll add:

- greasier ("wetter") compounds cut more aggressively than "dry" ones;

- on soft metals like gold and silver, iron oxide (rouge) burnishes more than it abrades. Remember, metals are malleable - a smooth surface can be created by /moving/ metal rather than by /removing/ metal. Quite what it does on wood/varnish/lacquer/wax I don't know - probably a bit of both

- the traditional colours are based mainly on the traditional ingredients - there is no standard grit size or "wetness" for a compound based on colour across manufacturers. My Hyfin (tripoli) bar may be finer than a cheap rouge.

- the mop is important too; good rouge on a linen mop is a waste of time for polishing silver as the linen will scratch more than the rouge burnishes (been there, done that, went back to soft twill cotton for silver)

As to your direct question, it seems that the colour of the binding compound is probably more important the grit :-) I use a carnuba stick on a cheap stitched linen mop, sometimes supplemented by pure carnuba/turps paste, which works for all colours of wood. But I don't expect this to do any cutting back; just waxing and burnishing.

Cheers Andy

John wrote:

Reply to
Andy Webber

In message , Andy Webber writes

Andy

the link was excellent, it has provided more detail than any other I had encountered so far. Now the hard bit is finding the right compounds in the UK. I have several sources, but which will give best finish that's a different matter

Reply to
John

Hello John,

If you can purchase the Beall Buffing System, which comes with three buffing wheels and a mandrel to mount it to a motor or you can get a Morse 2 Mounting to use in your lathe spindle. The system comes with two buffing compounds and red and a white. You use the red first and then the white to take away the read and the final buff is with Carnuba wax, which really brings out the shine. It is generally a good idea to apply and let dry a drying oil finish to help seal the wood against moisture before buffing. I have buffed the dry wood and then made it shine with the Carnuba wax, but don't recommend that approach, because I feel a sealing finish should be applied first.

I've had the Beall Buffing System for several years and when I want a bowl to really shine, I use it for the final work after applying oil and allowing it to dry.

If you can't find it in the UK, you should be able to order if direct from Craft Supplies USA in Provo, Utah. That is where I purchased my system eight or nine years ago. It is much better than trying to assemble your own. Their system was put together to buff wood products.

Fred Holder

Reply to
Fred Holder

Where are you?

I've used the following jewellery suppliers and been happy: Walsh (London & Kent) are friendly and knowledgeable on the phone

Cookson's (London & B'ham)

Rashbell's (London) helpful in store - several other tool places on same street

Cromwell's (nationwide) industrial supplies - not the cheapest if you don't have an account skip to about page 11 for compounds

Froogle turned up these guys as cheep for good brand products, but I haven't used them:

Most of these people are selling polish made by:

Cheers Andy

Reply to
Andy Webber

In message Hello John,

Hi Fred, thanks for the info. I am fortunate in already having a grinder already converted with pigtails dedicated for the task. I had looked at the Beall system. but as I already had Jewellers Rouge, Carnuba and several wheels, I only really needed the white, which is where my problem came in as there is a lot of confusion over how coarse the white is. Some references indicate its coarser than Jewellers rouge, so you wouldn't want to apply as you suggest after Jewellers rouge

I received a sample today of something called 'Sovereign White' which is apparently very fine, so hopefully will get a chance to compare it to other 'Whites'

As to a sealing finish, I agree with you on that one, when I first experimented with Carnuba wax it was on dry wood, and although it gave a glow it didn't have the same affect as when I sealed the wood first. Several experiments with different methods of sealing the wood and they all gave improved visual appearance when Carnuba Wax was applied, or when I applied paste was, though this had a lesser gloss.

Reply to
John

Some interesting sources there and being in Kent that helps :) I think there will be some calls next week for more technical details :)

Reply to
John

Craft Supplies is a great company, but as a part-time employee I'd like to point out that we carry Beall stuff at Woodcraft as well. A quick Google shows that Packard and Hartville also carry Beall.

Reply to
Larry Blanchard

two thoughts:

  1. Beale makes its money by putting together a package so you don't have to think - if you have some of the stuff, and can think, you don't need to pay their prices

  1. I have excellent luck with polishes sold for automotive use - don't know what it's called in the UK, but here we call it polish - comes in coarse (usually a brown color) and fine (usually a white color) and it is used to buff out paint to a mirror finish. since your wooden item, once slathered in finish (I use lacquer when I want a high gloss) is just paint the polish works perfectly - I apply it with the piece on the lathe - it's easy to get a mirror like shine

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Reply to
William Noble

Also - the plain wax finish isn't durable. For instance, on a pen the wax shine will wear out in a few weeks.

Agreed.

Note to all:

It's a good idea to check the official site once in a while.

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They have add-ons to existing systems, such as the treen mandrels, that the big stores don;t mention. (doing this right now....) I just noticed a new add-on for turning peppermill caps.

And adhesive-backed cork (used for snug-fitting peppermils/treenware.

And the new 4" Beall buffing wheels! Didn't know about this. For $19.25 you can add this to your existing set.

Reply to
Maxwell Lol

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