A question for Neil

[craigb]

The latest issue of Fine Woodworking arrived in the mail last night.

In it there was an article called “A Spit Shine using Paste Wax” or words to that effect.

In the article, the author claimed to have developed a method of finishing timber that was as good as or better than a shellac finish but much easier to produce.

Basically what he does is to put on one coat of Danish oil, followed by seven coats of wipe on polyurethane (he doesn’t mention sanding between coats).

When this is dry, he wipes on paste wax against the grain and waits for it to dry.

Then he takes a rubber made of a scrunched up paper towel inside a piece of cotton cloth.

The paper towel is then moistened with a water mister.

Next he loads some more paste wax on the cotton and proceeds to apply it to the work in a circular motion, occasionally moistening the paper towel until a high shine is produced.

He claims the advantage of his method, apart from not having to have a French polisher’s skill, is that any damage to the surface is easily repaired simply by applying more wax.

The piece of furniture in the picture certainly looked impressive.

Have you ever heard of this technique? What are your thoughts on it?

For mine, I don’t think that it could be as durable as a French polished surface as the shellac must be much harder than paste wax.

Cheers
Craig

[Shane Watson]

Sounds like theres more involved than French Polishing.... :confused:

Theres certainly quicker and easier finish's & or methods to use that give similar results to shellac.

But why and imitate a proven finish. The time taken to learn a shortcut method would take a person a long way to becoming familiar with shellac.

Cheers!

[craigb]

But why and imitate a proven finish. The time taken to learn a shortcut method would take a person a long way to becoming familiar with shellac.

Yes I agree, shellac has a few hundred years of use behind it.

It definitely has the runs in the board,

I was just interested to hear what the maestro had to say about this "new" method.

Craig

[echnidna]

I have tried similar finish method years ago and it does give excellent results.

Polyurethane doesn't suffer the moisture damage that shellac can.
Even ordinary hardware store brushing type poly can be wiped on and gives a good finish. Because it is very thin many coats are needed. The shine obviously comes from the repeated burnishing of the wax.



But I still prefer
1. Spraying laquer
2. Shellac. Which I occaisionally use before the laquer as it helps develop a very nice patina easily.

[Shane Watson]

Originally posted by craigb
I was just interested to hear what the maestro had to say about this "new" method.

Craig

But theres nothing "new" about this method, just that someone has put it in print in a popular magazine. ;)

Cheers! :D

[Neil]

I haven't seen the article but it sounds a bit like the spit polish we used to do on out dress shoes in the army.

He says it is easy to repair which usually means it is also easily damaged. This type of finish really is nothing more than a wax finish over poly. Putting wax over any finish is putting on a surface that is easily damaged even if it is very well cared for. In my opinion, repairing the surface by simply wiping more wax on is a load of rot. It would need to be polished on the same way as originally applied. And damage to a surface like that could also mean stripping the polish back to the poly surface and starting again.

A base coat of Danish and 7 coats of poly doesn't need spit polishing it needs a fine cut and polish to remove any imperfections and bring up the shine without adding a surface coating. It would be better to use something like EEE-Ultra Shine (http://www.ubeaut.com.au/eee.htm) and wipe off all the wax after use. This way it would be the shine of the hard surface that is seen and not the wax which is easy to damage.

The idea of a spit polish is to incorporate and trap minute particles of water (originally spit (saliva)) into the wax surface. This helps to refract light giving a shinier surface. The continued rubbing also creates an extremely smooth surface akin to French polish. However it hates heat and usually isn't too partial to alcohol or water.

French polishing isn't as hard to do as this finish and would be done in less time with a better more durable result.

I have seen polyurethane finishes on tables that are only a few years old and completely ruined. Whilst French polished tables well over 100 years old are still immaculate. Poly is easily damaged by heat as is French polish, however the French polish is easy to repair the poly isn't. Both can be damaged by water, it just takes a little longer on poly. However in my opinion using wax over either finish would make the surface very much easier to damaged.

Cheers - Neil

[craigb]

Thanks.

Craig