Free Product Samples of a Wood and Clearcoat polishing compound

[timf67]

I work for a company (Eminess Technologies) that supplies polishing consumables to the optics and semiconductor market. We were recently approached by several coatings suppliers who wanted us to develop a final polish for commercial wood finishes (very hard UV cured coatings and water based polymer finishes) and automotive clearcoats. We think we have come up with an excellent polish for not only the hard commercial coatings but also traditional wood finishes, CA finishes and even acrylic (think pen blanks). I have personally tried it on my turnings and think it works great, but I am biased. I would love to give out samples to NCWW members to try it and provide feedback on performance and suggestions for improvements. There will be no charge for the samples, all that we ask is that you provide performance feedback for the product and what type of finish you tried it on. Since it will be completely free (other than your feedback) we would like to keep costs down, so we would like to take advantage of local pickup and the pony express when possible. We will provide a 2 ounce jar of the polish and an applicator pad. The polish is water based and completely solvent and VOC free. I can provide an SDS (Safety Data Sheet) upon request. This product is still in the development stage, so it is not currently available for sale. If you are interested in trying it out, send me a private message and we will work out the details of getting the sample to you. Here are some videos showing the polish being used on a commercial finish:

[video]http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/500/Polish_Video_1.mp4[/video]
[video]http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/500/Polish_Video_3.mp4[/video]
[video]http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/500/Polish_Video_4.mp4[/video]

Thanks in advance for your help!

Tim Fitz | Slurry Product Engineer
Eminess Technologies, Inc. | 1412 Airport Road | Monroe, NC 28110

 

[Mike Davis]

I would like to try it but I don't think my work is compatible with the high gloss and I use oil finishes which are probably too soft.

Interesting product though.

I wonder if it will polish headlight lenses? Living in the country we get a tremendous amout of bugs and dirt deposited on the headlights and are always looking for a better cleaning product.

 

[timf67]

Mike,

Funny you ask about headlights. We have several employees that have used it on headlights and it works great on those as well (and automotive clearcoats as well). This is also another reason that I want to hand out samples, who knows what other applications people will come up with! I will let you know when the samples are ready to ship and I will send you one.

Tim

 

[KenOfCary]

Tim is sending me a box of samples soon so if anybody in the RTP area wants to try this out send both Tim and me a PM and I'll work out getting one of them to you.

 

[Danagawa]

Anybody coming to the Winston Salem area from Charlotte any time soon?

 

[Willemjm]

Tim,

I do that often using 3M automotive products. Any advantage switching?

There are a lot of tricks to a high gloss piano finish. For one, the slightest sanding dent is shown when the light hits it at the right angle. Also, the wood needs to be dried to the environment it will be placed in, and the humidity needs to be controlled, otherwise 6 months later the natural wood rings become visible as they telegraph through the surface. Again, this becomes visible at certain light angles.

For large surfaces the most stable is using a veneered classic core plywood which combines MDF cross bands with softwood veneer inner plies. The MDF cross bands provides an ultra smooth surface and controls telegraphing through the face, while the veneer inner plies provides the strength and lighter weight. This material with careful construction is ideal for highly polished gloss surfaces. It takes quite a bit of skill though and for large surfaces equipment is needed.

Articles such as guitars, violins etc., are probably the best application for the DIY person using these compounds.

 

[timf67]

Willem,

The finish/coatings companies that contacted us did so because they were not happy with the results of the 3M products. I will say, however, that the 3M waffle pad works very well with our polish. The feedback that we received from one vendor was that he had been working on finding a better final polish for about a year, and he got better results from our first attempt than anything else he tried. The biggest advantage to our product is that it is completely water based. Traditional automotive polishes have solvents and waxes in them, ours is basically a water based abrasive compound with not solvent or waxes. A different company we are working with specializes in flooring finishes and they like our product because it has the best "low-angle light" performance of anything they have tested. As with any final polish, you still need to properly prep the surface which includes flattening and working up to at least 600 grit. For the finer finishes we wet sand with 2000 grit before polishing. We are also working on an intermediate "cutting" polish to take the place of wet sanding with 2000 grit paper. I can send you a sample to try out if you want.

Tim

 

[NCJim]

My wife & I are going through W-S sometime on Tuesday. I will try to get together with Tim to bring samples up that way on tuesday, morning the 19th.
.

 

[Carl Fisher]

I'd like to give it a try for the pen market.

I make higher end custom (not kit based) pens and when I use wood, a CA finish is just too unreliable (think crazing and yellowing over time). I've been searching for an alternative and would be willing to give this a look.

 

[Carl Fisher]

I have a few questions for clarification.

Is this a polish or is it a hard coat finish? Does it penetrate and fill porous materials (open grained woods) or sit on top of the surface as a shell?

You mention UV cure, is this product going to require UV cure like Alumilite's Alumi-UV (another product I have in hand to try)?

What is the odor like during application? Respirator recommended?

Also what is the total cure time and does it off-gas like a CA during curing?

Thanks,

 

[timf67]

Looks like some folks are getting confused as to what I am offering. This in only a final polish. NOT a finish. It does not leave any residue behind. Our customers are the ones who make/supply the coating/finish, we are only supplying a super-fine abrasive polish to bring out the shine/luster of the finish. I will talk to our customer to see how they feel about supplying some samples of the coating/finish.

Tim

 

[Carl Fisher]

Ok, that clarifies a bunch. Unfortunately I was a little confused by all of the references in the original post.

So it's a polish. Where would you rate it in terms of abrasiveness? Currently I use EEE Ultra-Shine and previously used products such as Novus 3, 2, and 1 polishes. I'm trying to identify at what stage this would apply to the finish process for both wood and plastics.

Thanks

 

[timf67]

This is a different animal than the products you have used (EEE Ultra shine and the Novus polishes). The typical products that you are using are wax formulations that fill in any remaining imperfections and give the appearance of a surface sanded to 12,000+ grit. The Novus 2 uses an amorphous silica as the abrasive. Silica is very soft (~6 MOHS), so it will only work well on softer finishes. Our polish uses a very fine aluminum oxide abrasive that is a mixture of alpha and gamma phases of the alumina crystal structure. The alpha phase is very hard (9.5 MOHS) and it provides the cutting action while the softer gamma phase provides the fine finish. So, our polish gives an actual surface finish equivalent to ~12,000+ grit with no residue on very hard finishes where the Novus and 3M products will not have the cutting power to polish. I know I am getting a little technical, but I want to clarify that this is a true abrasive polish, and not a wax/filler type polish.

 

[Carl Fisher]

That's exactly why I was posing those questions. I think it's important to our membership to have an understanding of what it is being offered and what the benefit may be over products that would be perceived to be competition. I was hoping (fishing for?) a more technical explanation like that

I'd love to try a sample. I have a few materials that can be difficult to get a good polish on even with various buffing techniques. Ebonite (hard vulcanized rubber) and Alumilite resin among the two most difficult. Each readily shows finishing scratches and can be difficult to take past a satin sheen. However when the right technique is applied, they can produce a very high quality gloss. I'm curious to see if your product can aid in that process.

 

[timf67]

Carl,

Glad I passed the test! I live in Charlotte, and I will bring some samples home. PM me and we can figure out how to get you a sample.

Tim