Okay, here goes: I talked to our local polyester expert as I had mentioned in my previous post attached below. His name is Brian Meaton and he does professional polyester repairs for all the local piano and furniture dealers. He also repairs all lacquer finishes. He is in the phone book and has more work than he can handle and his current waiting list is about three weeks. He repaired a very bad chipped gouge in a new satin polyester mahogany French case Young Chang while I was there to watch. Outstanding work! It is nearly invisible. I've described the situation regarding the question and he says this: DON'T!! Under most situations power buffing will cause more damage than good. Orbiting or random orbit will leave obvious swirls no matter how you go about it. Furthermore most people tend to over do it, heating it up just enough to melt it and make a mess you will never forget. He says that if you are down right set on trying this you should use a standard soft cotton buffing wheel mounted in a horizontal die grinder or similar such tool. From there you should buff in a single direction in parallel lines. Start with a more course wheel with the most abrasive compound. When complete change direction, making parallel line passes that cross at a right angle with the first passes so you are making a grid like pattern. Then go down to the next finer grade of wheel and compound and repeat. Continue to the finest grade. DO NOT skip grades. Each step is critical. He says that one of the biggest mistakes that people make is to get in a hurry, skip steps, use too much pressure and melt the stuff, or whatever. Just because you are using a machine doesn't mean that this is a fast process. His foremost recommendation is to simply not use a machine and buff the finish by hand. It is slow, boring, and very time consuming, but it is the method least likely to screw up and will probably give you the best results. Just passing the word, do whatcha want! Rob Goodale, RPT Las Vegas, NV > Vanderhoofven wrote: > > > Greetings, > > > > I am in the market for a electric polisher for the final step in polishing > > out some scratches in a high gloss black polyester finish piano. > > <snip> > > > Today my quest for a handheld electric polishing tool took me to 6 > > different hardware/discount stores. The only polishers for sale in most of > > these places were designed for polishing car finishes. Unfortunately, I > > couldn't find what I was looking for. > > <snip> > > > Does anyone know where such a tool can be purchased? Rob Goodale wrote: > Oddly enough I was talking to a polyester finish touch-up man not less than an > hour ago at the local dealer I do PianoDisc work for. He does touch-up work > exclusively on all types of finishes around town. He is coming back late > tomorrow afternoon. If I catch him I'll inquire. > > <snip> > > > random orbiting polishers with a > > lamb's wool bonnet). > > This is a Scottish folk tune, isn't it? > > LOL! > > Rob Goodale, RPT > Las Vegas, Nevada
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