Bill I am guessing if you are using NuFinish then you are simply applying a top coat as a substitute for wax. correct?
Clifton, can you give more details on what is your sequence?
John: You're spot on but you didn't define "perfect" - success with automotive compounds depends on the coating you're compounding and how that coating is surfaced - the brand of the compound is secondary: Meguires, Wizard, 3M plus others will do a great job.
yup me too, been using them for a long time now
What finish are you using, how are you applying it and what type of sheen do you want?
For my "art" pieces, I want a high gloss sheen. I most often have used oil base poly, thinned with mineral spirits, and wiped on 5 or more thin coats. Wet sanding with 400 grit SiC paper after every 2-3 coats and after the last coat. Followed by Beall buffing. I have also used cellulose lacquer, most often from a rattle can, many coats, wet sanding frequently, followed by Beall buffing. Most recently I have been favoring Osmo Polyx again followed by buffing. I have been mostly happy with these results. But am always on the lookout for new ways to do things.
Michael have you looked at Steve Sinner's method?
If it works for you, that's a great place to start. There is high-gloss like your doing, then there is the sprayed on gloss. Where it looks like a thin coat of glass over the piece. You could do that with your current methods, but it would take15-20+ with a wipe on but sprayed is a better method. Rattle cans aren't great for this. They just spray too thin and it's hard to get it to flow. But spraying with a gun brings a whole new set of issues. A decent gun, a compressor that sprays dry clean air, personal safety equipment (which varies with the finish you're shooting) and spray booth or area you can spray without getting your car or killing the neighbors, and not creating a fire hazard.
I have watched the Steve Sinner video you posted, but many of my pieces are out of round, have natural voids, or I have put turquoise into cracks. So I do most of my finishing off the lathe.
Thanks for the advice. One question about sanding. You say to go to 2000-4000 grit. But I thought white diamond is equivalent to about 1500 grit. So why buff at all? I see John Tisdale and a few others in this thread prefer buffing with automotive polishes instead of the Beall system. Or alternatively, why not stop sanding at 400-600 grit and switch to buffing? In my experience Beall buffing can remove 400 grit scratches rather easily, especially from film finishes as opposed to bare wood. I wonder if I am missing something.
I don't know what grit white diamond is and that likely varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. A buffer can be way too aggressive, burning through the finish to the wood necessitating repair or worse, reshooting. But buffing is easier. Most of us would feel that going to only 1500 isn't going to give us the depth of clarity you would get by going to 4000 and then polishing compounds.
