DIYbanter - View Single Post - Powdered Pumice, rottenstone & Plumber's Rouge?

J. Clarke[_2_]

In article ,
says...

On 3/8/2011 6:57 PM, J. Clarke wrote:
So, what happened to plumber's rouge and powdered pumice/ rottenstone?
Can't seem to find any of these products anymore. In fact, local Ace
hardware and True Value stores claim that these products are no longer
even available for special order.

What are folks using for polishing compounds these days ...not looking
for hard to find select brands, just something I can purchase locally in
small quantities. Ideally, Would greatly appreciate recommendations for
equivalent substitutes of all three above.

Woodcraft has them, however any decent automotive paint store will have
products from 3M, duPont, or Meguiars that work as well or better and
are more convenient.

Would you be able to expand a little on the auto-paint and perhaps, in
terms of course=pumice/ medium=rottenstone/ fine=rouge, point me in a
comparative direction? When it comes to automotive finishes, I have
absolutely no clue ...isn't that the purpose of having car insurance?g

I've had good results using Meguiars Speed Glaze followed by Show Car
Glaze.

For best results with them use the appropriate foam pads on a random
orbit sander. Meguiars has "cutting pads", "polishing pads", and
"finishing pads". They're Velcro backed and hook right onto a 5" ROS--
they're a bit oversized for it but that doesn't seem to make any
difference.

The pads themselves have polishing action, from coarse to fine in the
order I listed--I've never needed a cutting pad on a woodworking
project, a polishing pad with Speed Glaze followed by a finishing pad
with Show Car Glaze gets things up to a high gloss right quick. If you
want less gloss stop at the Speed Glaze.

You can also apply by hand but you're going to need a lot of elbow
grease--the abrasives are designed to break down during the polishing
process so that you start out with a relatively coarse abrasive that
during the process of polishing becomes a much finer one, and the energy
to break it down comes from your efforts. The specific items I listed
above are intended to be usable by hand--some of the others from the
same company you'll be working on forever trying to get a decent hand-
polish.

These work well with lacquer and polyurethane, I've never tried them
with shellac (at least not yet). You want to have a fair bit of coating
thickness though--they can go right through if it's too thin.