Finishing the Finish - thanks mckenziedrums

[Shamrock]

Hey Folks,

Tim (mckenziedrums) and I met today over at my place after I begged him to come show me how he puts that supper glossy finish on his drums.

He was kind enough to bring his polisher,pads, and compounds over and demonstrate for me on my new serpentine table how the process goes while I took notes.

1st was wet sanding with 1000 grit wet/dry then 1500, then 2000. Then he polished using 2 different compounds with the buffer. We then waxed it and dognabits it's so smooth and shiney I could shave in that sucker.

I've got to give a huge "Thank You" to Tim for spending the time.


This guy knows his stuff, we talked at length about finishing and painting and he even helped show my wife how to polish her boat! Just awesome! I love NCWW.

Here the pics:





Thanks again Tim!:eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap

 

[Bas]

Kudos to Tim for helping a fellow woodworker out! NCWW definitely rocks. And just in time for the calendar contest too....

BTW, I need some help too. It doesn't have to be super glossy, I just need someone to "show" me how to spray two coats of water-based poly on a few drawer bottoms. Both sides of course. And "show" me how to sand in between coats. And clean the dust. And clean the spray gun. I really need some "help". And yes, I'd participate of course, I have a shop stool just like Michael does from where I can watch you "help"! :rolf:

 

[Shamrock]

He-he:gar-La; Of coarse I didn't take pictures on where the wife was busy buffing her boat. After all I only had 1 shop stool.:dontknow

 

[Matt Furjanic]

Hi Mike, That is one fabulous table that deserves a first-class finish! Maybe we can get a group together and spread the knowledge. I have always been interested in finishing and would be willing to share my French polishing techniques. I do a lot of French polishing and get amazing results. This may be the way to go on the smaller surfaces. I would think the buffer would be cumbersome on the smaller parts, like the aprons and legs.
Matt...

 

[mckenziedrums]

Haha glad to help and even more glad I didn't mess up such a fine piece of woodworking! You've got a great shop and build absolutely beautiful stuff.

Bas: You noticed the work he did holding down the stool too eh? It's a tough job but someone's gotta do it. I did at some point put him to work on the piece too!

Matt: Would love to learn some french polishing! I've thought about giving it a shot but it's just so easy to spray a finish and be done with it that I've never gotten around to it. You'd be surprised how easy it is to buff some small stuff when you're used to handling a buffer but you can get in trouble quick if you heat up the finish or dig in too much.

 

[Shamrock]

Matt and Tim-sounds like a good meet-up opportunity for the Charlotte area NCWW's. We could do demo's of both methods!

It has been a long time since everybody got together.

 

[PeteM]

Matt and Tim-sounds like a good meet-up opportunity for the Charlotte area NCWW's. We could do demo's of both methods!

It has been a long time since everybody got together.

+1
Count me in!

pete

 

[rcflyer23]

+1
Count me in!

pete

+1

 

[Randall Kepley]

Just let me know , Id love to join in on that. R.K.

 

[PeteM]

If anyone is interested I could do one using micro mesh for comparison.

http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/2005232/10574/MicroMesh-5-Disk-Assortment-Pack.aspx

pete

 

[mckenziedrums]

Micromesh is great stuff... I've used the micro-surface products for metal finishing as well as some drums and other wood items. You may be able to save yourself a couple bucks buying direct: http://www.micro-surface.com Not a huge swing in price but if you do any kind of quantity it might be nice to save some! Plus they're really good about sending samples, etc if needed. Or at least they were a few years ago

 

[Ben325e]

Lots of detailers use electric dual-action sanders/polishers to buff out automotive finishes with fantastic results. I know several members here have Porter Cable 7336 or equivalent sanders and aren't too happy with them as woodworking equipment, but for polishing finishes they can work very well without hardly any danger of heat build-up like you can get with a rotary buffer.

I've also used a 6" wool buffing pad chucked up in my corded drill with great results, too.

McKenziedrums - what type of compound are you using to buff with? I've used Meguiars M105 and Ultimate compound before on old worn out polyurethaned end tables and such, but I know it's not ideal. (Don't use this on anything you really like - silicone in automotive compounds and waxes can mess with finishes). I know lots of compounds are "body-shop friendly", i.e. won't mess up finishes, but I'm not sure how well that translates over to the woodworking aspect of things.


Thanks,

Ben

 

[Matt Furjanic]

Okay! I'm up for a Charlotte area get together on finishing. If someone can take the lead on this and provide a time/place, I would love to see this buffer technique, and I will do a demo on French polishing. Matt...

 

[bluthart]

Let me know when - I would be interested if I am off...

 

[mckenziedrums]

Ben: I use 3M products as far as buffing compounds. Usually at least a heavy cut to buff out the 2000 grit and then the Finesse it polishing compound. I use these on water based finishes all the time with no problems.

I'm a noob woodworker but have finished and built out quite a few custom drums. I'll be the first to admit my methods don't apply to all kinds of wood working. For large flat surfaces you can't beat it... for small things however you can't take a buffer to the object. Then again... you can take the item to a buffer if you have a stationary buffer Then again not everything needs to be high gloss!

 

[dizzolve]

Hi all. I'm from Raleigh and build drums. I've seen McKenzie over at ghostnote.

I wanted to ask if McKenzie's method works for his drums too? The cylindrical shape of a drum is far from flat so I wonder how your method might change for finishing drums.

Right now I am making sample boards for a tiger maple drumset that I built. I'm playing around with Transtints alcohol and shellac so far. I am new to dyes so I have yet to find a schedule I like yet but once I do, I'm going to want a high gloss finish for my top coat.

If anyone is doing a meet in Raleigh on the high gloss top coat or even how to get dyes to do what you want, I'd love to attend.

:saw:

 

[mckenziedrums]

Ah a fellow drum builder! What's your name over at Ghostnote?

In any case... yes it works perfectly. That's actually what I learned to do a finish on. This furniture stuff with flat surfaces is all kinds of easy compared to cylinders if you ask me! Buffing pads have an inherent amount of give in them so polishing a curved surface really isn't all that hard. Most cars you'd buff out would have curves in them too right?

While you're playing with dyes be sure to try tint coats... Tint the clear rather than just dying the wood and being done with it. You'll get a richer more vibrant color and if you do screw up you don't have to sand for hours trying to get below the dye.

 

[dizzolve]

Ah a fellow drum builder! What's your name over at Ghostnote?

In any case... yes it works perfectly. That's actually what I learned to do a finish on. This furniture stuff with flat surfaces is all kinds of easy compared to cylinders if you ask me! Buffing pads have an inherent amount of give in them so polishing a curved surface really isn't all that hard. Most cars you'd buff out would have curves in them too right?

While you're playing with dyes be sure to try tint coats... Tint the clear rather than just dying the wood and being done with it. You'll get a richer more vibrant color and if you do screw up you don't have to sand for hours trying to get below the dye.

My name is dizz over there. You might classify me as a noob. But building a drum is not rocket science. The finishing seems to be though haha :eusa_thin I have a recent post up with pix of the drums Im going to finish. I am excited to try out your tint coat method since what I've already experimented with has yielded marginal results. I do feel like I am learning and improving though.

Sounds like you tend toward the water based stuff. I have transtints that I've been carrying with dna. Apparently I could use distilled water which I should try out too. I have some laquer and dewaxxed shellac right now but am open to any top coat that will give me that really nice gloss over tiger. -depth-.

Can I tint coat with the shellac and/or the laquer?

 

[mckenziedrums]

Shellac already has a tint in it... You might not get the color you're looking for if you work with that. Much easier to apply the tint to the completely clear top coat rather than fighting the shellac. Plus the dye will probably play nicer in that medium anyways.

Dyes used with water tend to be a bit more UV stable than those used with alcohol or at least that's what I was always told. Since you never know how much sun light a drum might see I've just stuck with water as the carrier for the powdered stuff and it's never done me wrong.

Lacquer is a very forgiving thing to spray... Can't go wrong there. Some of the other top coats can put you at risk of witness lines, etc if you don't follow the finishing schedule to the letter. You're right though, a drum isn't exactly rock science to build. Unless of course you're like me and use carbon fiber and magnesium alloys I suppose