Wood polish and Window Glass.

[namburi]

HB02

Hi,

Wanted to know which is brand of wood polish is best in the market. I
have heard of some like Brindhavan and Kamal? I have given a labour
contract for the carpentry work. My carpenter was asking for polish,
some powder called Rasina, Teak powder, Sand paper, some mal cloth. Is
this fine. Can anyone throw some light on this?

Secondly I am in the process of fitting the glass for the windows.
Could some information about this be shared in terms of type of glass
to be purchased and the likely cost. Also which would be more ideal,
the plain glass or the tinted?

Thanks in advance.

Regards.

[namburi]

Rishi

I've used Sheenlac brand in Bangalore (there are a number of
imitations so look closely for the spelling) polish for my wooden
furniture, gives a pretty good shine. Generally carpenters/painters
are not the best people to polish, there are folks who specifically
just polish which looks like the case since from your list, there
seems to be a few missing things.
The regular method to polish is to first use a hard sand paper to
remove all the major indentations and then use some sort of a putty
(chalk powder mostly) mixed with polish (or any other binder) to
further fill any gaps on the surface and then use finer sand paper to
remove excess putty. Then comes the NC Sealer (also comes in Sheenlac
brand) coating to give a silky smooth surface (I feel this also
protects termites entry too). This part is what generally gives you
the colour that you see of the furniture (the Teak powder and any
other colour like Turkey Amber). You will also need almost an equal
quantity of NC Thinner (also Sheenlac) along with Sealer too.
After atleast a couple of sealer coats (go for 3-4 if you can) the
polish can be applied though you need to wait for it dry completely. A
couple of very thin coats of polish should do (has to be applied with
a lot of pressure to the cloth for best shine, so if you have a feeble
polish guy, find another one ). Note that polish is simply used to
give a shine and not colour.
The cloth they use is a Dhoti cloth, thin cotton cloth, nothing
special so you can buy it anywhere not necessarily at the hardware
store, which sometimes give it at a higher price.

About the glass, plain or tinted is your choice, you can look at how
thick a glass you're using, or whether you need a specific type of
glass (say if you need to prevent noise use a special glass like
AcoustiGlass or double glazed glass). If you're using regular glass
use atleast 5mm thick glass.
If you use tinted or clear glass with a film pasted on it (say from
3M) rather than the glass itself being of a certain colour) might
also help reducing potential injuries related to glass breakage, just
like in an a car, the glass even though it breaks sticks to the films
and doesn't fly (it's also tempered, but we don't generally use that
in windows).

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Rishi

[namburi]

HB02

Thanks Rishi. This is a wealth of information. Since polishing is not
on priority (especially the inner doors), I will do some more research
based on your valuable inputs. Thanks once again.

Regards.

[namburi]

Hi Hbo2
As an architect i would recommend shenlac ( the very popular ) and MRF
polishes ( the one used for melamine)
Check this http://www.mrfpaints.com/home.html for more details about
there products.
Check this http://sheenlac.com/profile.html for more details about
there products.
Usually MRF will be 10 to 20 % costlier than other brands.

regards
Ar.Praveen.N
Ardes Architects and Interior Designers
ardesarchitects@yahoo.co.in

[namburi]

HB02

Thanks Praveen. I will check out the web sites.

Regards.

[blrguy]

Praveen, Rishi,

Pl. clarify the staining process as the MRF site is misleading.

When do you stain the wood to your desired color? Before you apply the sealer? Along with sealer (mixed into it)? After the sealer?

In my opinion, to get the desired effect, the wood should be buffed first to make it smooth using a sandpaper, stained to the desired color with applicable number of coats, dried adequately, then lightly buff it again & then apply the sealer. The whole idea is to let the stainer penetrate into the grains to give a long lasting color. Isnt this correct?

MRF site says:

Under the TreatWood application procedure they write:
* Apply two coats of Treat Wood Sealer either by spray or brush between two coats. Allow it to dry for 8hrs or overnight.
* Sand the first coat by 220 emery paper.
* Apply the second coat and sand the surface by 320 emery papers.
* Apply two coats of TreatWood Sealers and MRF Wood Stains.
Note: for colouring/Staining the wood, use MRF Wood Stains.
* Apply the stainer either by applying by cloth or mixing in top coat clear (Matt or Glossy).
* Don't sand the stained wood.
* Apply two coats of Treat wood Glossy or Matt Clear or intermixing the two, to have the desired gloss level.
* Between two coats, allow drying time of 8hrs, or overnight.
* Sand the first coat of top coat clear by 400 emery paper

Under the woodstains application procedure they write:
* Sand the Wood substrate coated with sealer with suitable emery paper. Remove the loose dust with dry cloth/brush.
* Apply a coat of stainer using muslin cloth pad along the grains.
* The desired shade can be obtained by building up the stainer coat.
* An interval of 5 - 10 mins can be given between the subsequent coats.
* As an alternate, the stainer can be sprayed uniformly on the filled substrate. Excess coating will deepen the shade. If required, the shade can be diluted using Thinner for finish.
* After drying for 30 minutes, the stained substrate can be top coated with any of the following products: WoodCoat, TreatWood, Melamine, FreshWood & Cento Interior systems.

Which is correct now?

Thanks,
Santosh