Pumice-Rottenstone-Tripoli polishing problems

[Jamille]

Hello all,
I am new to polish finishes, in particular I am trying a piano type finish on epoxy paint.
I have read many posts on this topic but one thing I am stuck on never seems to come up... Rottenstone leaving a brown hue behind.
I sand to 600 grit, great.
I use a felt block and water with pumicestone, also great.
I rub in the rottenstone, the shine is great but...
rottenstone is grey brown in color and it appears to be staining the finish.
I tried everything to get it out, the only thing that comes close to removing the brownish tint, is toothpaste.
MY QUESTION:
besides anything obvious you might point out, I am wondering if the toothpaste gets the stain out because it is a finer polish therfore digging out the rottenstone?
Is toothpaste finer?
Can I skip the rottenstone and jump to tripoli (being white it wouldnt stain).
Has anyone experienced this?
Thanks so much in advance I am staring at 24 8'x14" boards all with a lovely high gloss finish and way too brown in color for the white my client was looking for.

[artme]

I'd skip the rottenstone and go straight to Tripoli powder.
I think you are right with the toothpaste. I use it to polish pens.
Perhaps some of the really fine, auto fine scratch removers are the go. I know people who use these to polish pens.
Maybe white diamond jewellers rouge would be helpful. This seems to be the finishing polish of choice for many American penturners.

[RufflyRustic]

What Artme said! Skip the rottenstone and go for the Tripoli.

cheers
Wendy

[munruben]

You can skip to the Tripoli powder. It is just a finer grade of rottenstone.

[Jamille]

Hey,
Thanks for the responses.
Does anyone know if the Tripoli they sell on U-Beaut is white?
I don't have any in the shop, and cant seem to source it locally in NY.
Thanks again

Jamille

[Jim Carroll]

Not white but a light tan color.

Definitly not brown.

[MacS]

Jamille,

There is a company in New York City, with the name Talis, they have a web site that you can search for on the Internet. I found it there doing a search.

You can check it out, they have a terrific line of products. They will have what you want, and are a good sourse to save for future needs.

Give my best regards to Brooklyn.

[Jamille]

Hi Mac,
Thanks for the response, I cant seem to find this company.
I have googled just about every term I could think of.
Let me know if you still know the url for the website.
Regardless, thanks for the help.
In the meantime I have jumped ahead and will try the tripoli at projects end.
On a tight deadline, so I dont think I can wait for shipping from AU.

The one thing I still cant figure is: Why did the rottenstone leave residue behind in the first place.
I really cant figure it out, also a note to anyone else reading these posts.
I do not think that toothpaste is finer then rottenstone. I believe it is actually on par with pumice(ff).
My only thought is that having jumped from 600 grit to pumice(ff) I left some larger, deaper, sub-scratches that were filled in with the rottenstone.
I do not think that it was for a lack of elbow grease as my right arm is now 3 time the size of my left, and my left arm is at least 3 times the size it was.
Any thoughts on this original rottenstone error would be much appreciated.
Thanks again everyone



Jamille

[artme]

has probably been solved by your good self. jumping too far in drades will cuase the sort of problem you outline.
When I do pens, where areally fine finish is requuired, I am ver particulat about cleaning with a soft cloth or brush between grits as this removes any residual loose particles of the coarser material.
I now do this with all sanding.