What kind of varnish can be polished. How to polish furniture at home. Wood polishing compounds

Wood, as one of the most demanded materials for the manufacture of furniture products, requires a special finish that will emphasize its natural beauty, will extend the operational life.

This process is called polishing. Surely he difficult to execute, takes a lot of time, and all actions must be done very carefully. Despite the difficulties, polishing wood allows you to create glossy surface, the main thing is to know the intricacies of the process.

What is polishing

As a result of polishing wooden surface retains its natural color and acquires a mirror-like shine... For polishing, it is necessary to apply several times to the wood special composition, which is called varnish. Unlike alcohol-based varnish, polish contains three times less resin, which makes it possible to obtain a thinner and transparent decorative coating.

The technology for creating beautiful textures requires high-quality surface preparation, in particular sanding and removal of lint, dust particles... Then the tree is treated with a primer emulsion, polishing is carried out and the final stage is polishing.

What breeds can be polished

It should be noted right away that not all breeds are suitable for polishing. For example, loose wood is difficult to polish.

Polishing more efficiently dense rocks:

• Red tree;
• birch;
• boxwood;
• nut;
• pear;
• hornbeam;
• apple tree;
• maple.

Nice texture after polishing it gets beech wood, although it is difficult to polish it. Oak is notable for its sponginess, therefore it is also difficult to polish. Pine is rarely polished due to the looseness of the wood; it is mainly polished and varnished.

Wood polishing compounds

There is a fairly wide range of products on the market designed for processing wooden products... Purchase the composition already in finished form can be at any specialized outlet, if desired, it can be made at home on the basis of varnish or wax.

To prepare a working mixture for polishing wood with your own hands, you will need crushed shellac resin in the amount of 60 g and alcohol 0.5 liters. The components are mixed in a glass container, closed tightly with a lid, stirred periodically so that the shellac is finally dissolved. Then the working fluid is filtered and poured into a clean container.

For finishing children's furniture, tableware it is more advisable to use drying oil or wax paste... It is prepared from wax, turpentine (solvent) in a 1: 1 ratio. First, the main component is heated in a container in a water bath, and then a solvent is added to it. To achieve a uniform consistency, the mixture must be constantly stirred. A felt swab is suitable for working with wax. This is a safe type of wood polish that does not emit harmful substances and is absolutely harmless.

If the house has wooden lacquered furniture and needs to be refreshed, then you can use wood polish in aerosol or liquid. In this case, formulations with silicones give a good effect.

Note! Furniture wax for polishing is applied to the wood without varnish.

You can make polish from olive oil(2 parts) and lemon juice(1 part or slightly less). The products must be mixed and applied from a spray bottle on lacquered furniture or dipping a cloth in the polish.

Also prepare polish from turpentine and beeswax , taking them in equal quantities, heating in a water bath and mixing. The furniture is polished with even movements to a shine, paying attention to all the curves and nooks and crannies.

Stages of work

The wood polishing process consists of several stages. In order for the surface after polishing to look perfect, it must first, then cover with a layer of soil and only then polish thoroughly.

Surface sanding

This procedure does not cause any particular difficulties, but it takes a lot of time to give the tree a perfect look.

The surface should be no chips, burrs, cracks or other defects. First, the wood is processed with sandpaper No. 46-60, then with abrasive material No. 80-100 and finally sanded sandpaper № 140-170.

Wood after sanding becomes clean, smooth, without protruding fibers and lint.

Padding

At this stage, the prepared wood is primed using a shellac polish and a linen swab... It is not recommended to use cotton or woolen fabrics for these purposes, they leave behind small fibers, villi, which are clearly visible on a polished product.

To apply the primer, a small amount of polish is collected on the tampon and rubbing begins in different directions. With this approach, small cracks and pores are most effectively filled, impregnation is better.

Note! First, a smear is made on the test surface. The polish should dry quickly and not form bubbles. If there is a lot of it, then the excess is removed by wiping the test surface.

Primed product leave to dry for 2-3 days... After the varnish has dried well, it is necessary to sand the wood with a fine-grained abrasive material. The resulting dust is removed with a cloth.

Polishing

After priming, the so-called polishing is performed. On a tampon made of linen, apply a couple of drops of vegetable oil(this contributes to easier sliding) and pouring some liquid shellac polish... For work, you can further dilute the shellac-based composition (usually an 8% solution is used).

Bring the tampon from the side and produce smooth circular motions... Polishing is carried out in three runs, where each layer should dry, sand with fine-grained sandpaper and free of dust. A light gloss can be seen only after applying the third layer of the product.

Polishing

To polish the wood, that is, to obtain a perfect shine, the surface of the wood should be treated with a fine-grained abrasive material (sandpaper) soaked in vegetable oil, when the third layer of polishing is completely dry... After that, drip a little vegetable oil and polish onto the tampon.

Improve strength characteristics polished coating is possible if you apply not one, but multiple layers... At the end of sanding, it is recommended to treat the product with a soft cloth dipped in a solution of polish and water. Excess oil can be removed by rubbing wood with ethyl alcohol... This makes the surface smoother.

Now let's talk about the methods and equipment for ennobling the surface of the finished lacquer film. In principle, there can be three types of structure of this surface - silky, matte, glossy.

A silky sheen is usually found in coatings formed by varnishes containing volatile solvents (eg nitrocellulose). Such coatings are characterized by a small thickness, as a result of which they copy the surface of the substrate, that is, the fibrous structure of the wood.

A matte (or, as they sometimes say, matte) surface can be obtained in two ways - by special grinding of a glossy coating or by using varnishes with matting additives. V Lately the second method is mainly used.

Glossy coatings are widely used (they can also be called mirror-smooth). They are formed by varnishes whose film formation occurs without the evaporation of solvents. But immediately after curing, finished glossy coatings are practically not obtained. It is necessary to refine them to remove irregularities that are the result of varnish spill errors, drying coatings, dust on the surface, copying irregularities in the substrate, etc.

The reader may wonder which coverage structure is preferable. The answer cannot be unambiguous. The economy also influences here (the most cheap cover- silky), and the taste of the manufacturer and the buyer (in the USSR and in a number of foreign countries for a long time preference was given to glossy coatings), and technological capabilities (to obtain glossy coatings, you need sophisticated refining equipment, which will be discussed below, and for matte coatings, special, so far relatively scarce varnishes).

The author should draw the reader's attention to the fact that the structure and quality of the surface paintwork- one of critical characteristics the quality of the entire product, especially furniture. For manufacturers, this circumstance is complicated by the fact that the sensitivity of the human eye to surface irregularities, especially polished ones, is very high (the eye distinguishes irregularities equal to even 1/5 microns!). Therefore, when obtaining the desired structure of the finished surface, much attention is paid to everything that contributes to its quality: product design, materials, machining, the final phase of production - enrichment of the coating.

The surface of the coating is in most cases smoothed by grinding. In the case when the coatings are capable of dissolving, the surface leveling can be done with a swab soaked in solvent. The latter method is often used for curved surfaces.

Grinding or grinding is of great importance for leveling polyester coatings: a layer of paraffin is removed, microroughnesses are reduced to a size when the coating can be polished, the surface is leveled under a plane. Grinding removes a layer with a thickness of 0.05-0.1 mm. The height of irregularities (roughness) before polishing should not exceed 2 µm.

The surface is first sanded with a coarser sandpaper (No. b and 7). The direction of grinding is important - it should be crosswise. Machines are preferred with a power feed of the through-feed type, equipped with sanding belts, sanding in the first pass across the movement of the backboard (coarse sanding) and along the backboard (along the grain if the backboard is faced with wood veneer) with fine sanding.

It is known from physics that a surface is specular if the amount of irregularities on it is less than half the wavelength of visible light, i.e. less than 0.2 microns. We have already said that after grinding, irregularities remain, the height of which can reach 2 microns. It is these irregularities that are removed by polishing, which is performed with pastes (sometimes with liquids that dissolve the coatings). Polishing pastes are a mixture of abrasive powders with a liquid or solid bond. Polishing is carried out on belt or drum grinders. The working tool on them is no longer a sandpaper, but soft textiles, cloth, felt, on which the paste is applied. The machines can have one or more drums (belts). If the machine is of a continuous type, there can be 6 or even 8. The drums are located at an angle to the direction of movement of the shield (8-12 °). Sometimes, to avoid scratching, the drum is given an oscillating motion, that is, a slow motion along an axis.

From all that was told in the seventh conversation, it is clear that for finishing works it is necessary to carry out special training of highly qualified personnel with knowledge in the field of physics and chemistry, mechanics and electronics, printing and paper production. Increasingly, in finishing workshops one can meet narrow specialists - chemists, physicists, electronics engineers, printers.

The author believes that in the near future one can expect the appearance of new important improvements in the decoration based on the latest achievements of science and technology, which will require even higher qualifications of personnel.

How to properly prepare wood for varnishing to make it smooth?

Finishing wood is the stage that crowns the wood processing process and ensures its true beauty. If you learn the basic steps of sanding and finishing and the techniques used in them, you will be able to guarantee excellent results every time. This article contains the most useful tips.

Wood sanding

Sanding wood with sandpaper

You can grind wood with both sandpaper and a sander. Scratches are less noticeable when they run parallel to the grain of the wood. However, even the smallest scratches across the grain will become visible after varnish (or paint) has been applied. Wood sanding is done very carefully.

Sanding wood on curved surfaces

Sand curved surfaces and other elements where grinder inconvenient to use, should be done manually. It is important, however, to use paper of the same grain size and try to apply the same force in all areas.

Sand wood without scratching

Any centrifugal grinding machine practically does not leave scratches, therefore, such a tool is advisable to use in places where the direction of grinding and intersections with fibers are changed. In this case, the machine should be operated slowly (no more than 2-3 cm per second) and with little pressure, otherwise you risk causing spiral-like scratches (in the next photo).

Why do scratches appear on wood?

Such scratches are left by a centrifugal sander if used incorrectly.

Sanding wood should be started with coarse sandpaper, gradually moving to finer and finer grained types. Whether you are sanding by hand or with a machine, use 80 grit / inch paper first, then 120 and 180.

Varnish selection

Do not rely on store samples. Real color highly dependent on the type of wood being processed and how it was prepared for finishing. So collect wood scraps, sand them and use them to test your varnish. If this is not possible, then apply a test portion of varnish to an inconspicuous area (for example, on lower part countertops). Leaving varnish on the surface for more or less time, you can get different shades. For special colors, varnishes from the same manufacturer can be mixed.

Try different types of varnish

Polyurethane varnish on water based has very little effect on the own color of the wood. At the same time, oil-based products have a rich tone that can dramatically change the color of the tree.

Check wood before varnishing.

You will need light enough to be directed at a fairly sharp angle to the surface. Inspect the wood for imperfections and carefully mark them with masking tape. Then sand them down.

Watch out for stains when varnishing wood

Some types of wood do not absorb the varnish evenly, leading to the formation of dark spots on the surface. Birch, maple, pine and cherry can play such a cruel joke with you. This effect is difficult to avoid, but it can be limited to treating the wood with conditioner before varnishing. The conditioner prevents the wood from absorbing uneven amounts of varnish into the fibers. Such products are sold along with paints and varnishes.

In these photos, you can see how you should choose a varnish. The choice of varnish should be made in accordance with the type of wood.

Wood varnishing

Wood varnishing with a brush

Brush - best tool for applying polyurethane varnish. For a water-based varnish, a tool with a synthetic bristle made of nylon or polyester is the best choice. Natural brushes should be used for oil-based formulations. In both cases, do not skimp on spending when buying these devices. Quality brushes will pick up more polish, apply it smoother, and are much less likely to lose bristles in the finishing coat.

If you wash your brush immediately after work, it will serve you for a long time. Wood varnishing with a brush ensures efficiency and excellent results.

If, after applying the next layer, you suddenly notice a flaw in the coating, an uncovered spot or something like that, you immediately rush to cover it up. Don't do that! While the varnish may still look damp, there is a good chance that it is already cured, and you will only ruin everything with a touch of the brush. There are exceptions to this rule: you can pierce small air bubbles with a needle, you can pull the hair out of the layer, or pull out an unsuccessfully adhered fly with tweezers.

Rubbing instead of smearing

In places where brushing is difficult, rub it into the wood with a soft, non-fibrous cloth. When rubbing in, the varnish layer turns out to be much thinner than when spreading with a brush, so it is worth repeating the procedure several times. Rubbing in is only suitable for oil-based formulations, since water-based varnishes dry too quickly.

Use a roller when working on large areas.

On large surfaces, water-based polyurethane compounds can be easily applied with a paint roller. Because water-based varnishes dry quickly, brushing over large areas can be difficult. Before varnishing the wood, clean the work piece and work area. Dust on a fresh coat of varnish will ruin your work. So get out of your desk and let the dust settle.

How to apply varnish to wood in stages

Always lightly sand the surface between the varnish coats to help achieve evenness and perfect layering. Wait for the previous layers to dry before reapplying the varnish to the wood.

Required tools for wood finishing:	Required materials for wood finishing:
dust mask;	Several types of both medium and fine-grained sandpaper;
centrifugal grinding machine;	For polishing between varnish coats - 180 grit / inch sandpaper and steel wool sponges;
paint roller;	Water or oil polyurethane varnish;
for water-based varnishes, use synthetic brushes and sponges;	Compatible paints (if required). When in doubt, use varnishes and paints from the same manufacturer.
use natural brushes for oil based varnishes.

You have used the correct finishes and applied them correctly. A strong protective film has formed on the surface of the product, and you like the way it looks. What to do next? Perhaps nothing. In some cases, it's time to endure finished project from the workshop for everyone to see. Most of the time, however, the last coat is not good enough for you to be proud of your work. By carefully examining surfaces with your eyes and fingertips, you can easily detect dried-on dust, shagreen or roughness. Get rid of these defects by buffing. This operation consists of leveling the coating film and giving it the desired gloss level using fine abrasives. You can achieve a perfectly glass-smooth surface using a simple technique, similar to sanding the underlying wood surface. We cannot let you feel the finished surface with a polished lacquer film, but you can see the difference by comparing photos A and B.

First of all, you need to polish products with surfaces located in plain sight, which are often touched. These include table covers and doors. Start to hone your skills on them. Polishing is not difficult, and it is more than worth the effort.

First, let's list the methods of polishing

COATING POLISHING METHODS
Cover type	Alignment	Matt or semi-matt gloss	Mirror gloss
Oil or oil varnish	Waterproof sandpaper no. 320 and finishing composition as a lubricant	Polishing with white abrasive pads and wax paste	Unattainable
Polyurethane, alkyd oil varnish, water-based formulations
Nitrolac and shellac	# 600 waterproof sandpaper or white abrasive discs for eccentric sander	Polishing with a woolen roller with polish or white abrasive pads with wax paste	After obtaining a silky matte shine, polish with a wool and fine polishing paste or sandpaper No. 800-1500

The first necessary condition the polishing film is the coating film, which must be thick enough not to rub through. To do this, at the previous stage of finishing, it is required to correctly apply several thin layers of varnish. In addition, patience is required. Allow the film to cure completely before polishing. Remember that a film that is not hard enough to be elastic cannot give shine. Depending on the finishes used, film thickness, temperature and humidity, drying of the coating can take up to a month.

If you want to achieve a mirror-like gloss, it is especially important that the surface of the wood under the varnish is perfectly smooth. Fill in exposed woods with a special filler paste or use a wet sanding method.

You will need a variety of abrasives (photo C). All abrasive materials create small scratches on the film surface, the size of these scratches affects the reflection of light on the surface (Fig. 1). The finer the abrasive particles, the smaller and finer the scratches and the more shiny the surface will be. Coarse abrasive particles will leave rough scratches and a dull sheen on the surface. A well-polished glossy varnish looks like glass, reflecting light and surrounding objects.

Any other varnish contains a certain amount of matting additives, mainly in the form of small particles of silica. These additives reflect light in different directions, giving the finish a soft sheen. You can reduce the gloss of the finish, but you will not be able to make the matt varnish as shiny as the glossy, so you should determine the desired gloss in advance and select the appropriate finish.

Glossy varnish provides more options. Its gloss can be easily reduced to matte. If you decide you've overdone it, you can restore it to its original gloss. Remember that on non-shiny surfaces, coating imperfections become less noticeable, and on glossy surfaces they appear clearly. To obtain a mirror finish, the coating film must be very hard. Such a film can be obtained using shellac or nitro lacquer for finishing. Polyurethane, pentaphthalic and water-based varnishes produce a softer, more elastic film and generally cannot be polished to a high gloss. The surface will be, at best, semi-matte with a slight silky sheen. Oil varnishes and oil lacquer varnishes almost always remain matt, with only a slight increase in shine.

Sanding and Polishing: If Right, It's Easy

Start mastering the polishing technique from the very easy way... Apply a layer of wax paste to the surface finished with the oil polish. When the coating is completely dry, use a soft non-woven swab to spread a paste of a mixture of soft beeswax and hard carnauba wax over the surface (photo D). Rubbing the paste, you smooth out all traces of dust particles, making the surface smooth and pleasant to the touch.

Photo: A - B: Spray coating often produces orange peel-like shagreen (left). To make such a surface smooth and shiny, you can use polishing (right). C: Polishing pastes can be found at auto supply stores, lambswool roller and sandpaper at your home improvement store, and felt blocks, Abralon discs, abrasive sponges and pads at specialty stores that sell supplies. professional finishing... D: Small scratches on a walnut table finished with an oil varnish polish, can be polished with non-woven abrasive pads using dark brown Briwax wax. E: When dry sanding nitro varnish with fine-grained paper upper layer the film turns into white dust. Change the paper often to avoid it getting dirty. When finished sanding, clean the surface with a cloth or compressed air.

There is little chance of rubbing the coating film through and through, and the product acquires a soft, radiant sheen. Surfaces finished with shellac, nitro lacquer or alkyd oil varnish tend to have more imperfections than those coated with oil varnish. Dust, brush marks, bubbles and streaks can often be found. If the defects are minor, polishing will be as easy as in the previous case. At the same time, numerous microscopic scratches are created on the surface of the film, giving the coating a soft sheen.

Open pores, bumps and other defects will not disappear anywhere, but they will be less noticeable on a semi-matte surface. You can use mineral spirits, soap, or any other lubricant instead of wax, but it is best to repair the blemish while waxing.

More defects - more work

Now imagine a thicker coating film with several large quantity defects, among which dried dust particles are more common, especially on slowly drying oil-varnish coatings. Most of them can be easily scraped off with a knife blade after the next layer has dried. Hold the blade nearly vertical with your thumb and forefinger and gently scrape the surface, making gentle strokes towards you.

Be careful and avoid scratching the film. Dried dust can be remove by grinding but the blade allows you to do this faster and with less effort, especially on flat surfaces. Curved, profiled and carved areas should be sanded. The blade scraping method also reduces the risk of through-damage to the coating film, as occurs when sanding the edges of flat surfaces. The finishing composition applied in liquid form seems to tend to the middle of the surface, forming a thinner layer along the edges, where it can be easily damaged.

Spraying finishes can increase the film thickness at the edges, but it is nearly impossible to achieve a smooth transition using a brush or dipping. After scraping off the dust particles, it is required to additionally grind the coating in order to level it and get rid of other defects. This operation will not take long if the dried layers have been sanded sequentially during the coating process. For leveling the film, waterproof abrasive paper with silicon carbide grains wrapped around a block with glued felt, felt, cork or rubber is best (photo E). If you want to sand on dry, stearate coated paper (usually gray) - the best choice... This paper contains a soap-like substance that prevents the abrasive from picking up. However, it should not be used when an additional coat is to be applied. For sanding water-based varnishes and polyurethane, it is best to use waterproof silicon carbide paper (usually black).

If you prefer wet sanding, choose plain, non-stearate, waterproof paper. Lubricants prevent the abrasive from getting clogged with coating particles that stick together in tiny lumps and get stuck between the abrasive grains.

These lumps can leave visible marks on the coating film. Lubricants can be soap ox, white spirit, kerosene, wax or oil. Experiment with them to get a feel for their properties. With soapy water, the process is more active, but the paper clogs faster. Oil slows down sanding, but the paper stays clean for a long time. Speeding up the process may seem effective way saving time, but this often leads to through sanding of the coating (photo F). This is likely to occur with any lubricant. You can remove a large area of ​​the coating, creating a defect that is difficult to repair, and not even notice until the grease dries.

To smooth the coating film, sand gently and little by little. Then clean the surface and shine a bright light on it. If shiny areas are visible, the surface is not yet leveled. Continue sanding the entire surface, not just shiny areas.

Each new layer of the composition on (nitro lacquer or shellac) softens the previous layer and firmly bonds with it, forming an almost single layer (Fig. 2). However, each layer of so-called reactive (or polymerized) compounds dries out as a separate layer, which can create problems when sanding and polishing. If you are sanding unevenly, you can remove some of the top layer and touch the bottom, resulting in patches irregular shape with sharply outlined light borders. Smooth out the coating film to make it look and feel good, then apply a layer of wax paste using an abrasive sponge as in the previous cases.

Figure 1 (Above): How Polishing Changes Gloss

Figure 2 (bottom): Two types of coatings: organic solvent formulations and polymerizable

Each new layer of a composition based on organic solvents, such as nitro varnish or shellac, is firmly connected to the previous one, so such a coating can be easily polished. Polymerizable (reactive) compounds like polyurethane form separate layers. Sanding through the top layer will result in unsightly streaks.

How to achieve a mirror-like gloss

If you want a surface finished with nitro varnish or shellac to shine like a mirror, first level it as described earlier. Then continue buffing, gradually working down to finer abrasives, until the desired result is achieved. You can use abrasive paper with a grain size of 800-1500 units, polishing pastes and microabrasives, the grain size of which is measured in many thousands of units.

Leveling and polishing pastes, as well as polishing liquids (polishes) for cars, suitable for our tasks, are not difficult to find on the market, and they do an excellent job with furniture coatings. Most leveling pastes with orange or pink color, allow you to achieve a matte sheen. After applying them, move on to white polishing pastes for a glossy finish.

These pastes can be rubbed over the surface by hand or with a machine. Use a piece of felt or a short-nap tampon to apply them. It is better to polish the coating with a lambswool roller (photo G). These rollers are commonly used in hardwood floors and can be found at hardware stores. A special polishing machine will help speed up the processing of large flat surfaces, but you can use a regular eccentric one. Many models are equipped with an additional polishing sole (see the manufacturer's instructions).

Photo 2: F: If the coating film is thin, it is easy to wipe it through with sandpaper and expose the wood, as happened with the mirror frame. G: The lambswool roller is comfortable to hold with both hands, applying pressure in the right places. Polishing compounds are sold in car cosmetics stores, car dealerships.

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