# Friction Polish Recipe??



## DKF (Dec 28, 2007)

I am going to be helping a new turner make a pen for the first time and he will want to take his pen with him....I do not use friction polish myself but need a finish that he can do easily and take the pen home....does anyone have a friction polish recipe....ie. shellac and wax etc....I have also heard about sanding sealer and then Beall Buff...what kind of sanding sealer?  I have the Enduro sanding sealer, as well as a spray lacquer sanding sealer.....thanks for any and all ideas and advice.


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## wdcav1952 (Dec 28, 2007)

I agree that friction polish is not a good choice for a pen.  Consider a CA finish?  Or, if you do want to pursue a FP, here is a good place to start:
http://www.woodcentral.com/russ/finish10.shtml


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## Hello (Dec 28, 2007)

I may get pounced on for this.....but, I've have great results from that top coat stuff that women put on their finger nails after painting. It doesn't crack when dries, it doesn't wear off like sanding sealer finishes, it shines up like a CA finish quite nicely, it applies easily (latex glove with a little goop and horizontal applying on-lathe without the lathe running), wet sanding seems to get the best results for smoothing imperfections. The only thing I'm not sure of is the long term durability where I just started trying it about 4mnths ago. When I first started, I was dipping, but that was too inconsistent (bubbles), so I started manually applying.


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## DKF (Dec 28, 2007)

> _Originally posted by wdcav1952_
> 
> I agree that friction polish is not a good choice for a pen.  Consider a CA finish?  Or, if you do want to pursue a FP



Thanks for the link....I myself use CA, Enduro and spray lacquer, but I wanted to let him do the finish completely by himself, and I wanted it to be fairly simple....If he opts to continue on, I will steer him in the direction of the CA finish.


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## mrcook4570 (Dec 28, 2007)

CA takes maybe 5-10 minutes longer than FP.  Why not just go with CA?  I've shown several new (and some experienced) turners how to apply a good CA finish.


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## Ligget (Dec 28, 2007)

Wish I could apply a CA finish in 5-10 mins!

Takes me 30 mins or longer![xx(]


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## Hello (Dec 28, 2007)

I've only made one succesful CA finish, and it was by accident....I got angry with a blob that occured during application and tryied just sanding all the way down to the wood to find that I'd applied so much that I sanded down to a perfect CA thickness....go figure


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## R2 (Dec 28, 2007)

G'day Don. Besst friction polish recipe on the market is called "U Beaut-Shellawax"


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## doddman70 (Dec 29, 2007)

The best FP recipe i have seen and used is simply 2 coats of mylands sanding sealer followed by 2 coats of mylands FP. just make sure he gets each coat as hot as he can untill the fingers start to burn

Shane


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## Russb (Dec 30, 2007)

Friction Polish: equal parts denatured alcohol, boiled linseed oil, clear shellac.


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## rherrell (Dec 30, 2007)

> _Originally posted by ligget_
> 
> Wish I could apply a CA finish in 5-10 mins!
> 
> Takes me 30 mins or longer![xx(]



Amen to that, Bro'!


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## Timbo (Jan 5, 2008)

I agree fully with DODDMAN70.  Mylands 2-part process is the way to go.  First, you don't want to start a new turner out trying to something like a CA finish which ranks pretty high up on the difficulty scale for finishing pens.  You want his first experience to be a success so that he'll want to stick with it.  Most would not dispute that FP is not the "best" finish, but few would say it's not one of the easiest.  Even without getting it hot enough to burn your fingers, you can get a brilliant shine that will make any newbie smile.


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