Is there a wax or oil or similar medium, and/or a technique I can use to get at least a semi- shiny finish? In a bucket, mix equal parts denatured alcohol and lacquer thinner. You can probably do this on smaller pieces too but it does become a little trickier using a powered solution like this. But if using a varnish, you just need to keep the final coat fairly thick so that you don’t burn through. These videos will always be here for you to enjoy. He was born in Chicago and graduated Eastern Illinois University with a degree in journalism. Some species have open grain and some don’t. Yes, that’s correct about both shellac and lacquer. This can be done in a number of ways using a variety of materials, but I really like using Timbermate water-based filler. What is your advice, given what I have already done, to achieve a decent high-gloss finish? Wet sand level the next day (600) and shoot three more coats. Make the puddle about the size of your gloss applicator. Do you have any suggestions? In general, buffing will also increase glossiness. Apply a third coat and let it dry for a two days (don't sand it). Depends on the depth of the scratches. way to shinny. I do wet sand through the higher grits in the smoothing stage, but overall smoothing involves less time since each higher grit takes only a little time since in smoothing, the work is already level and it’s a matter of replacing larger scratches with smaller ones. Choose a fine-grit sandpaper and scrub the cabinet doors thoroughly. 1-19-2015 I really appreciate the great info. Marc, My problem is taking a high gloss oil-based finish on a front porch to a lower sheen, closer to a semi-gloss or satin. From what I’ve found, lacking gloss at the final step is usually due to insufficient buffing through the grits. I’m having problems getting the orbital out, any advice? Marc, you simply do an amazing job of sharing your skills. The end result looks incredibly professional. It’s a good idea to dedicate a pad for each specific compound so as to not end up with grit contamination. Consistency should be like a thick milkshake, pourable without being watery. this process can be done with other finished like shellac I’m assuming (which is the finish i have the most experience with) but can this be done with a finish that causes layering issues such as the polyurethanes and (correct me if I’m wrong) varnishes? The top looks ok now but with the finish not sinking in I don’t think it will provide any real protection. Paint stripper will bubble your gloss and make it easier to scrape and sand once you have left the paint stripper on for an hour. What would you recomend?? I’m looking to achieve a high-gloss finish. 2) Can you use these same techniques on small jewelry boxes (ie: 2x3x4″), or is it difficult to use the Festool sander on such small items? The easy way to remove water stains from wood furniture. If you need to know how to remove glue from wood, it’s likely that you’ve got a glue patch on your varnished wooden furniture or flooring. Wear a dust mask while using a floor screener. It was, in fact on top of Arm R Seal gloss – about 5 coats worth and I had let it cure for about 3 weeks. That process is called rubbing out. The final steps of the process bring the surface to a super deep gloss. The wax is not necessary, but for what I build, it is needed. I heard your plan on the WTOR podcast to balance these two sites in the coming year and I think this is a great start. thanks again…. just wondering not finishes i have much experience in but i love the results and will have to try on the curly cherry jewelry box I’m finishing for my wife. So you would simply find an oil-based outdoor varnish that has a semi-gloss sheen. This is a very different approach to what has been suggested in these threads. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely our own. Christian. Can you give us an example of the consistency we should shoot for in a filler? One of the biggest challenges woodworkers face is getting a nice smooth blemish-free finish. Have been making furniture for years and was never really happy with the look and feel of the final coat. Once again, soapy water serves as a lubricant. :). Sander. Well keep in mind that my knowledge of finishes really doesn’t extend far beyond that ones we typically use on furniture. Using enough pressure to remove the paint but not so much that it damages the wood. Sand the gloss by hand using 240-grit sandpaper. On the inside of a couple of the doors, and only in small places (not much larger than 3″ x 3″, or even smaller), there are some bits of grit or what look like very very faint fingerprints. But when I go on rockler, it says it’s a 5in sander but the platin pads are 6in. Pour more gloss and continue spreading it row by row until you've done the whole floor. I am a Masters student of the University of Education, Kumasi-Ghana West Africa. I have a marine varnish and want to follow this process exactly, but it is too cumbersome for the amount of surface area I have. I hope you can help me. You got a very nice result there using the ETS 150/3 (or 5?). Hey Leo. I have a small project where I used gloss polyurethane. Used 0000 steal wool to remove, hit it with 2000 wet sand paper again. Why don’t you use a 4000 grit pad? Questions about ‘rubbing out’ the high gloss finish. As an alternative to wet sanding in the leveling process, I’ve had good results with Norton 3x. Safety glasses for now on. I felt I needed to sand because the surface was rough in some areas after the first coat. For some reason that is baffling me, I find that the poly is resisting certain small parts of the surface. To apply the new gloss, the old gloss has to be screened off, which is a light version of sanding the floor (it takes off just the gloss, not the wood surface). Vacuum up the dust. The blanks were close to flat but apparently not close enough and the result I had burn through before I had flattened the low spots. Down the middle of the table (the width) is a high gloss streak, as if it was mistakenly rubbed on; maybe from a high gloss oil on a rag? I finish it off with turtle wax. I had hoped to use a layer of west systems epoxy as a top coat on a large (40″x99″x8/4) live edge slab. Thin coats will result in you burning through the top layer. For best results, use a strong detergent, such as trisodium phosphate, or a substitute. More importantly, and what surprised me about the process, is that it FEELS glass smooth, which it didn’t before with the just the arm-r-seal (little teeny nips and sags). But it will likely be short-lived and will need to be renewed periodically.If you truly want a shiny finish, you’ll need a film of some sort. Do I start over at the spray lacquer steps and work myself up again? It becomes more noticeable in certain lighting. Hello Mark, I’d like it to still have a satin look when I’m done, and my thought is that buffing the surface would probably not change this aspect? I have a beautiful cherry table that has a matte finish. Taking off the top layers of paint from old dressers, doors, and other wooden items can give them a whole new look. No reason you can’t follow the process shown in this video as long as you never sand down into your paint layer. Wondering if my 320 wet sand was too much? The 5″ model is the ETS125. Be sure to do this in a well-ventilated area, as the fumes from these chemicals can be dangerous as well. If you’re doing this by hand, that could very well be part of the problem. 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