Small praise for big performance (Beal buffing system)

Did you use all three steps of the Beall? The (red) tripoli seems to undo fine-grit sanding for me. But then I tried it on bare wood with very fine grain.

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

Yes.

I cross-buffed, holding the workpiece such that the buff contacted the wood at roughly 90 deg angles with each subsequent buffing (|--/\). I kept at the tripoli until the surface was all even, even though it dulled some parts that the MM had done an adequate job on. Then I repeated the process with the white compound. I kept at this step until I had the shine I wanted and then touched it with the carnauba buff (which I had loaded as heavily as I could).

I was concerned that hitting the bowl with enough friction to melt the wax would also be enough heat to ruin the varnish. Not so.

The reason I lied about how many coats was because I had already been called a liar about how I had applied the varnish (by brush). Since the guys weren't interested in the truth, I didn't see the sense of wasting any more of it on them.

A couple of the guys are potential customers. They won't pay the shop rate I want but might give me the same amount of money if they think it took longer than it did. I'll accept $20 / hr so long as it's based on 48 hour days. ;-)

I've since buffed a few pieces that had BLO on them and applied a first coat of thinned (2:1) varnish as a sealer, fuzz hardener. After I've sanded them to final smoothness, I plan to apply a few coats of varnish, sand it smooth (perhaps 600-1000 grit) and then buff. If there are no ripples and the finished surface is uniform, I think I might be in business.

One key to getting a healthy shop rate seems to be efficiency.

Bill

Indeed. Set your price based on the first one - any improvement in the process simply makes your effective hourly rate per piece go up. That's your raise for better performance.

Thanks for the tip, Bill. I'll try the 90 degree trick next time. I'll also try a penetrating oil before the first application.

Hi Folks,

Indeed - shop efficiency is the key to making money at this and is rarely written about.

George

I had to divorce the wife for that very subject! Didn't involve a buffing system, though!*G*

Leif