Friday, July 19, 2013

Edge Finishing: No-Buff, High Polish Part 3



Now that you’re done with the RT (Rotary Tool) treatment, it is time to move on to the Elbow Grease application.  The goal of this entire process is to reduce the “tool marks” in the material to zero over many steps.  Get your rat-tail files out and go over all of the edges and contours you just hit with the RT.  The action of this process should resemble someone playing scales on a violin.  Your cut and draw stroke should slide along the edge of the piece and then your angle of attack should adjust slightly as you repeat.  Start will a little pressure and increase as you feel comfortable.  If you add too much pressure and pause for a moment you can notch the edge and have to go back to the RT to smooth it out.
You should see the small “lines” or tool marks that the RT left start to blend out.  Pay careful attention to the acute inside corners of your project and use a smaller file if needed.


Next up, we’ll get to work with those foam sanding blocks and maybe start to unlock the mystery of the Nomex Glove.

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