Return to The Show Page

Don Weisman writes:

A very recent Stickley piece we did was a
Honduras Mahogany Bed enlargement from Queen to King.
Both headboards are shown.
They are the same color despite what the Photo shows, Honest!
This is due to the angle and elevation that each piece is standing at.




I machine rubbed and polished.
After completion I compare/scrutinized
the differences of both machine rubs. I found:
Stickley had Orange Peel, mine did not.
Stickley was well filled, but mine was 100% (1 application)
Stickley was a smooth as a Baby's butt, so was mine
Stickley had what either was scratch's from steel wool
or from customer maintenance.
Stickley was very acceptably done by any standard.

One conclusion I came to was that I spent more time
Polishing and rubbing than necessary.

There was no need to go as far as what I did, although
it was not our intention to exceed Stickleys quality.
It simply happened.

For me, it's impossible to know when enough is enough
unless it were done on a daily basis,
like Stickley and other fine furniture manufacturers.

Using a Stuhr #600 after a 1 week of 2 topcoat drying of
SW clear gloss Pre-Cat, we sanded with 400 wet/dry-1 pass.
(for a NC, I'd start with a 500 or 600, but Pre-Cat is tougher)
600 wet/dry-2 passes.
1000 wet/dry-2 passes.
Compound with 3M's Type T ScotchBrite.
(countless passes to remove)
2-3 passes Finishing Material using High Gloss ScotchBrite.
1 pass (plus a few selected wipes) hand applied Protective Wax.

I didn't track the time on the rubbing, but I doubt it was 2 hours.

Don Weisman
TX




Return to The Show Page