Mylands Friction Polish

[Alan Tolchinsky]

Hi All,

What's the best way to apply this pen polish? Is there a technique that results in the best shine? I have some of this that's about 5 years old. Think it's too old to use? Thanks!

[Scott Donley]

High speed and burned on with a paper towel. I would think 5 years it should be ok just Shake it up really well first. Good luck !

[Bruce Shiverdecker]

Personally, I have not had good luck with paper towels.

I use cotton cloth. Doesn't leave lint or streaks.

If the Milans tells you what the carrier is, I suggest cutting it 50/50. Just like paint, several thin coats are better than one thick one.

Bruce

[David Walser]

Mylands is a popular friction polish, but I don't recommend it for use on pens or other items that will get a lot of handling. Shellac based finishes are soft and abrade easily. While such friction polishes will build up a very nice looking finish very quickly, the finish won't long survive being rubbed between someone's fingers.

[Bernie Weishapl]

I won't use friction polish anymore because it just doesn't last. I have a pen with lacquer and one with friction polish. The lacquer looks like it did 3 yrs ago and the friction polish one looks like it has been thru the mill.

[Dean Thomas]

First, I do not totally disagree with Bernie & David about shellac based finishes and handling. Lacquer is a much better finish for things that will be in the hands a lot. The CA finish is also a good one for this.

That being said, of all the non-lacquer friction polishes, I do like Mylands best. It seems to get harder than most shellac based finishes. Before I'd follow Bruce's advice on thinning, I'd look at the stuff. If it flows freely, faster than cool syrup and slower than water, you're probably alright. I use the stuff for the Freedom Pen Project pens that we do here in KC. Hundreds of them so far. I have a few pens that I've used for many months (one close to a year for daily use) and have only found total failure of the finish on one pen that I abused the heck out of. It stayed in my sweaty pocket for hours while I did some shirt-sopping activity last July. It got drenched and overheated, same as me. The finish did not fare well. CA would have done much better. Lacquer would have survived, although if you think about lacquer finishes with coffee rings from heat and moisture, you know you can affect those, too.

To get a super glossy finish, I do use paper towels. Bounty or Viva work well. Both are soft enough to not leave marks and they are both very good about not linting up. Viva tends to come apart with the moisture, imo, while Bounty's 1/2 sheets are about right. I use half of a half-sheet, folded down to about 1-1/2" wide, four layers thick. That allows me to feel the heat I'm applying. Warm enough to be a touch uncomfortable, but not hot enough to chase away a little girl's tender fingers, if that makes sense to you. Most guys can "get" that in their imagination. My callouses could make me insensitive to the heat, and I do NOT want that to happen. Heat can kill a finish or a piece of nicely thinned wood.

I sand to 400 or 500 grit; last grit also is used with the grain with the lathe off. First coat of Mylands goes on with the lathe off. Fairly wet coat, and wipe it into any pores. If there is still dust in the bottom of the pores, it's now soaked and sealed and it has become a design element. It also helps define the grain. If we're talking walnut or oak (or other open pored wood), I'll take my 400 or 500 grit paper and wet sand using the Mylands as my "wet". Then two, three, or even four more coats. NOT too thin. Warm them in really well. Maple, oak, and walnut can take more heat than cherry and some of the exotics, but you have to learn how far you can push it, usually by finding the edge of the world and falling over the brink. :D If the pens sit for a 3-4 weeks, the finish will be totally cured and will last much longer than if you put it into use immediately. I think that a very warm application probably jump starts the curing process, but all finishes require time to cure. ALL finishes that are solvent based.

I usually finish off with a coat or two of wax applied with the lathe running and removed with the lathe off. I do not want to buff off all the wax. Some folks prefer a high carnauba content, others swear by Renaissance which has NO carnauba in it at all, but seems to stand up to handling very nicely.

Hope it helps.

BTW, you might also want to consider using a true sanding sealer and then a lacquer over finish. That will help with flatness of surface. Mylands has a lacquer sanding sealer and a satin finish lacquer that can be applied as a friction polish. Playing with that now. Results when I have some. :)

[Larry Marley]

The only thing I would add to this is, shellac does have a shelf life and 5 years is a long time. It will probably work, but a fresh bottle will probably go on more easily and get better results.

Larry

[Alan Tolchinsky]

Thanks all for you information on this and Dean for your detailed application method. I really appreciate it. At my local Woodcraft a bottle of Mylands was nearly $20! Wow that a lot for a shellac based product, don't you think? I'll stick with my old bottle until I find a reason no to.

[Dean Thomas]

Alan,

Yeah, a fair buck, but it goes a LONG way. Most finishes are between 13 and 20 a bottle, but figure the size of the bottle in there and it pretty much works out.

There are a LOT of pens in that bottle of Mylands, I might add. Before you try this on a pen that you really want, spin yourself up a spindle say 5/8" in diameter, sand the heck out of it just as though it were a pen, and try it out. If the finish is gummy or doesn't harden, then your shelf life has indeed expired.

Hope it helps.

[Thad Nickoley]

Hello, for those of you that like to finish with laquer...what laquer do you use? I read one thread were the person talked about spraying with a small air brush.

[Dean Thomas]

Thad,

Deft is available in quarts at the box stores and comes in both gloss and semi. Good quality. It also comes in rattle cans but not all the box stores (BS??) carry the cans.

Masters makes good products.

Mylands has a lacquer available by UPS from Craft Supply USA, but they only carry the sanding sealer and the satin.

Rattle can stuff is good because no oxygen gets to it and it doesn't thicken up like quarts often do. Try to buy extra nozzles if you get from a dealer. They are good, cheap insurance against clogged nozzles/cans and wasted product. If you buy quarts, decant into smaller containers and maybe use a product like BlOxygen (think blocks oxygen) for the larger container.

If you only want one product, buy Deft gloss. You can thin it and use it as a sealer, you can wipe it on, start the lathe and paper towel it off. You get even coats that way. Put it on, wet sand it, put it on, buff it with white diamond or Shellawax's EEE product. Any number of ways to work it. Don't want so much gloss? Gentle use of 0000 steel wool knocks the gloss down without sacrificing too much of the depth of the finish.

If you're going to do a LOT of lacquer work and you want to invest a little more in the product and proper application, make friends with a Sherwin Williams dealer. They will introduce you to several different high quality products including multiple levels of lacquer thinner with different rates of evaporation from normal fast to pretty darned slow. If you want to play tint games, they used to help with that, too. My old dealer was a HUGE help in educating me about my options in lacquer. Only problem with them is that you have to deal in gallons or 5-gallon containers.

Hope it helps.

[Mike Bowline]

How does one repair a bowl (long since tenon removed) that was finished with MyLands Friction Polish? My granddaughter got ahold of a maple bowl with said finish applied and she decided to bang/scrape it against the bricks on the fireplace.
I’ve searched far and wide and the only info I’ve found is how to apply the finish, not how to repair it.

Thanks all

[Jim Morgan]

Friction polishes are typically shellac-wax blends; one coat will blend into the last with the heat from friction. I would mount the bowl in a vacuum chuck, apply a new coat of friction polish, and follow the application instructions, generating friction with a clean cloth.

[Edward Weber]

I agree with James, other than his advice, all you can do is sand it off and apply a more durable finish.

[tom lucas]

Make your own friction polish. Much cheaper. Lots of recipes out there. I use 1:1:1 of shellac: DNA: Boiled Linseed oil. I use Tried and True Danish oil for my linseed. If you use shellac shavings, you can make it in small batches that won't go bad before you use it. But, I agree, not well suited for pens. CA is my preference.

[Brice Rogers]

I think that the ideal finish for a pen is CA glue. I prefer the medium-thin grade. It goes on very quickly and you can put on 3, 4 or 5 thin coats in a session with perhaps only a couple of minutes between applications. It also sands and polishes very well. Of all finishes for a pen, it probably the best in terms of resistance to wear. So, if it was me, I'd throw out the 5 year old Mylands or use it for something else.

[Jim Morgan]

Um, that Mylands that was five years old at the start of this thread is now 18 years old. OP has one post since 2012, inactive since 2016.

[John K Jordan]

When applying Mylands to thin spindles i apply with a small cotton strip about 1”x3” piece of an old tee shirt, soak the cloth and apply with as high a speed as the lathe will produce. The small strip prevents injury from wrapping your fingers around the cloth. I apply multiple coats with the lathe at fully speed. I top with Reniassance Wax.

But I agree with others that Mylands is not much good on pens or other things that get handled a lot. I use it a lit on finials for ornaments and such, small finger tops, and “magic” wands since they don’t get handled a lot. I tend to use CA glue for pens. Shellac based mylands will soften and get ugly in the presence of alcohol and even moisture.

A good finish for pens is multiple coats of “danish” oil, perhaps wet sanded with fine paper, dried overnight between coats, then buffed. Add Renaissance wax.

I occasionally apply Mylands to larger things, off the lathe, with a larger cloth, rubbing vigorously. If finish applied earlier have gotten messed up I usually don’t remove the old first.

That said i rarely use Mylands on boxes, bowls, etc - too much effort and the finish can degrade with handling. Multi-coat “danish” oil is my first choice for most things that get handled, second is multiple light coats of spray lacquer, often followed with 0000 steel wool or pumice to cut the gloss. I’m not a fan of thick, high-gloss mirror finishes on wood.

JKJ



Hi All,

What's the best way to apply this pen polish? Is there a technique that results in the best shine? I have some of this that's about 5 years old. Think it's too old to use? Thanks!