Using Shellawax

[Fireguard]

G'day All and especially Neil,

Just a quick question about using Shellawax Liquid.....

I've just turned a few pens over the weekend, (Myrtle, Jarrah, Tas Blackwood, Cocobolo) each one was sanded to 400 with normal paper, then through the grits to Micro-mesh 8000, then with EEE.

After all that I then put on three coats of Shellawax (The liquid one), but it didn't really seem to do anything...

Each coat I was stopping the lathe, putting some shellawax on a piece of paper towel, them applying it to the pen, as soon as I had done that using the same piece of towel I cranked the lathe up full and applied heavy pressure, but it didn't really seem to do anything..

Should I be doing anything differently ?, should I be leaving the shellawax to sit on the wood for a bit before I apply pressure? or is it that I just cant see a difference because of all the sanding/EEE ??

I've used the Shellawax on other bigger projects and have seen excellent results, but this is the first time I have sanded so fine and used EEE, so I'm just wondering if I'm using it wrong.

[Christopha]

Why 3 "coats"? 1 should be ample on a pen, also I trust you are using it very sparingly? Why paper towel when a soft cloth ( flannelette sheet or similar) is preferred? You say you are using the same part of the cloth so that is good.... Also I hope you have the lathe running nice and fast and keep the cloth moving.
It is really quite simple ( which is why the likes of me can demonstrate it!) and you should be getting excellent results.

[Fireguard]

I was only using a small amount each coat, and the reason I was using paper towel is I didn't have any clean bits of cloth in the shed, plus I dont like the idea of a chunk of cloth getting caught and wrapping around the lathe taking my hand with it, but i do now have some cloth that i might cut up into small "pads" to use.

The reason for the three coats was because i wasn't getting much of a finish, so i figured a couple of extra coats might do the trick...

Normally I do get good results, but as I said, I've sanded further this time that i normally do plus i've used EEE which I havn't done before, so i was just wondering if that was a contributing factor...

[ubeaut]

Three coats is ok for pens I prefer there be more than one coat as 2 or 3 gives better protection against sweat etc.

Try doing the same again then wet it before applying the Shellawax and see what happens. Almost instant dull, because there is o finish on the surface. Wet the one with Shellawax and the water will bead up and roll off. That's because there is a finish on it.

Sand to 800 and apply the Shellawax and you will get a brilliant shine. But if after you've finished sanding and the shine is as good as it gets (brilliant) then there isn't going to appear to be any difference when the polish is applied. You can't make full gloss fuller.

Personally I wouldn't be using the EEE (R.I.P.) Ultra Shine on a pen if you're sanding to great heights, also sanding that fine I definitely wouldn't be using paper towel. Liable to do more damage than good. Go to spotlight or other material shop and buy some white flannelette sheeting material. Few dollars worth will give you years of fantastic soft clean cloth.

This is for anyone using rag to apply a finish on a lathe:
Never use a big chunk of cloth. I have a heap of flannelette cut into about 250mm squares. When using any cloth with Shellawax (or any other finish) on the lathe keep it in a solid wad in your hand. Only a fool leaves it flapping all over the place to get caught on the spindle, and an even bigger fool uses that much that their hand gets dragged in with it.

Cheers - Neil

[KevM]

Rob,
How fast is full speed, I started with a homebuilt lathe and couldn't go any faster that about 1600 RPM, too slow to burnish the Shellawax.

My current lathe is capable of speeds in excess of 3000RPM and this is fast enough to burnish. You should feel the heat through the cloth, if you don't, it ain't really hot enough to burnish the finish into the timber and bring up a great shine.

One other question though, is your timber dry?

[Fireguard]

Cheers Neil, I'll give it a try in the next couple of days..

Kev, Yes I'm using dry timber... I'm not sure exactly how fast flat out is on my lathe. its a Sherwood MC-900 so i think its about 2000 rpm

[ubeaut]

You should feel the heat through the cloth, if you don't, it ain't really hot enough

If you do the rag isn't thick enough.... Fold it a few more times and you won't burn fingers and will get even more heat to burnish.

I'm a lazy bugger run the lathe at around 1400 rpm for almost everything, but I do have the luxury of variable speed control.

Cheers - Neil