Brasso - French Polish

[Strungout]

Hi,

I have just finished doing a wood finishing course and the teacher used "Brasso" after French polishing to bring the finish up like glass.

Any comments on this.

[Iain]

It is a fine abrasive, and so is EEE Ultrashine, that would be my choice.
I am not sure what is in Brasso but I know that EEE will not damage the finish with any nasties such as silicon.

[munruben]

Hi,

I have just finished doing a wood finishing course and the teacher used "Brasso" after French polishing to bring the finish up like glass.

Interesting and I suppose your teacher knows what he is doing but I think I am with Iain on this one, will stick to EEE ultrashine. Horses for courses I reckon.

[Barry_White]

Interesting, when I do acrylic pens I sand to 1200 and then hit them with EEE and because I don't have any Brasso I have been hitting them with Silvo.

When I do them with the EEE it does bring them up better than the 1200 sanding but when I hit them with the Silvo the difference is like chalk and cheese. The Silvo gives them a brilliant shine.

[munruben]

Interesting, when I do acrylic pens I sand to 1200 and then hit them with EEE and because I don't have any Brasso I have been hitting them with Silvo.

When I do them with the EEE it does bring them up better than the 1200 sanding but when I hit them with the Silvo the difference is like chalk and cheese. The Silvo gives them a brilliant shine.

Now that is interesting. might have to put Brasso and Silvo on my shopping list.

[durwood]

Brasso is an old method of producing a shine on paint surfaces ( used it in the 1950's ) It works well but more modern materials are available which work better (most auto compounds). There is no silicon in Brasso so that is not a problem. It easy to obtain from stores compared to the trade products. Brasso cut better than Silvo.

You can save a lot of rubbing and elbow grease by using finer grades than 1200 which is only about half way to the finest grades of abrasive paper available. You should be able to purchase at least 2000 at places that sell 1200.

[s_m]

when I do acrylic pens I sand to 1200 and then hit them with EEE and because I don't have any Brasso I have been hitting them with Silvo

Not surprising. My Grandad used to make jewellery with casting resin and shell/rock collected on trips etc. After sanding with wet+dry to very fine grade the final smoothing was done with Silvo.

Steph

[Iain]

Looking at the U-Beaut link above I quote
"If you sand to 240 grit then use EEE it will give you about the equivalent of sanding with 1200 grit or more. The higher grit abrasive paper you use before using EEE the better your finish will be. If you sand to 1200 grit and then use EEE you will get about the equivalent of sanding up to somewhere between 2000 & 4000 grit depending on the material you are sanding."
When turning I sand to 1500 with the rotary sander then use EEE,, hey, I love this stuff, and support this site by using Neils products.
I am not saying that the Brasso etc won't work but I'm happy with what I use.