Friction Polish Exposé! Secrets Revealed! 

I tried your friction rub and it is AWESOME! It’s like French polish light. It’s so easy and gives a great finish.

I've used this mixture (not the same batch) for finishing for over a year. It's easy and quick and looks good. Dry shellac flakes have a very long shelf life unlike liquids. I have flakes but am still using up the Zinsser products. A very good video, Rick, with lots of useful information.

I learnt so much from this thank you! I was about to go out and buy some Danish Oil to compare against my Linseed Oil. You saved me time and money, thank you

Thanks for the information Rick. I think the formula is well known but the depth of information you provided gives a much better understanding!

This video was not long at all...,It was very informative , and I learned a lot about shellac . I do many gun stock restoration and Your french polish mix works very well. You are a very detailed instructor,,,Thanks for sharing ....Canada

Thanks, Rick. I have the Seal Kote in my shop and it's a 2# cut and has no wax, and neither does the shellac in a rattle can. As I understand it the reason they don't put waxed shellac in a spray can is it will stop up the nozzle. I try and learn something new every day and you filled the bill for today.

Thanks Rick !!! Just the information I needed to make my own friction polish. The ready made kind of is so expensive I’ve been a serious Woodworker for about a year since I retired. And I have throughly enjoyed my new hobby. My friends also have been impressed with the beautiful things I’ve made them thanks again Phillip McGhee MD

I just new that deep down somewhere inside you there was a sensible side .... fantastic research Rick thanks very much for the info

I watched your video about friction polishing and it reminded me about an experience I had 1948 Junior High School Wood working class. I had turned a Black Walnut bowl and applied Shellac finish. The next day I put it on the lathe and used steel wool to smooth the finish. After a short time the Shellac got very hot and lumped up. I thought I'd ruined the finish until I noticed there were spots the were had a very nice shine. As I had nothing to lose I continued using a lot more steel wool and after a while the bowl had a beautiful smooth shine. Now I realize I had invented my own version of Friction Polishing.

Hi Rick as a newbie to wood Turner this is valuable info Thankyou for putting it out.

So happy that you're still in the wagon!

Excellent info. I have read most of what you said, but a review is always good. Looking forward to the next installment.

Great explanation of the polish, I’ve been using it on just about everything I do now. It’s so easy to work with

Thankyou Rick for the polish update. I use the 1to1to1 Polish mix as most of us do.Thankyou Roger Barossa Valley South Australia.........

Thanks Rick. Very informative. Appreciate all your research.

Thanks Rick , lot of good information you handed out ,it is well received .

Loads of very relevant information Rick. Great video. Cheers Mike

So very thorough and jovial. I think your inner comedian was trying to get out, lol. Great stuff, just what I needed to know. Thank you.

Thanks for the video with a wealth of information.

Ive made it with pure tung oil and it works great. To me it gives a bit more of a golden color. Thanks for the video

This is exactly what I’ve been looking for. Thank you

Thanks Rick. Lots of good info. That helped a lot.

What a great video - very informative and useful for the beginner, i.e. me! Thanks.

Thanks for sharing the information. Very informative.

Hi Rick, lots of very interesting information, look forward to your next polishing video, Best wishes Harry

Great video The shelf life issue is another good reason to make your own FP. If you purchase a commercial FP, and it goes bad, you have wasted however much is left in the bottle. But if you make your own, you can make smaller quantities (I use a shop-made scoop made from a 35mm film canister to measure the components - the scoop holds a bit more than 1 oz of liquid) - so the fact that I'm mixing a smaller quantity means that I am more likely to use the entire mix before it goes bad. Commercial canned shellac has a shelf life although DNA and BLO tend to last for years. I use the Zinsser's Seal Coat Unwaxed product both to make FP and also to make a sanding sealer (mix 1:1 in DNA), so the one quart can tends to get used more rapidly than if I were using it only to make FP. It is also possible to purchase dry flakes or buttons and make your own liquid shellac - that almost totally eliminates the shelf life issue.

Thanks for the informative video, never tried friction polish in this way. Many years ago I used Deft on all my lathe projects applied like friction polish. It worked but not food safe I suppose. I will give your method a try for sure thank you.

Denatured alcohol is Methel Hydrate in Canada

Great video matey, i am new to wood turning and this is going to help me otu so much. Cheers.

Thanks Really enjoyed your video.. Very interesting .. Learned a lot Thanks

Awesome research! You answered my question.

Awesome!!!! ty my go 2 turning finish .this video is very informative.

Very interesting, thank you... Cheers...

Hi Rick , Lots of info here that I found very interesting , many thanks for sharing and I will keep an eye out for the next polishing video. All the best Bram.

GREAT VIDEO VERY IN INFORMATIVE THANK YOU FROM DOUG

Very informative. Thanks

Thanks Rick, lots of info there. 👍

That was a lot of great information Rick! You answered pretty much all of my questions about friction polish. (especially not to drink it... whew!, I was about to pour myself a shot... ;) ) LOL! Thanks for sharing this, Rick!

Great video, very informative to a novice wood carver. I have a question about using tung oil as a finish and being food safe?

Fantastic video mate, I am new to Wood Turning and cringed at the cost of the friction coating from the store lol, I got a bottle of Shellawax but thanks to this video I will make my own, Thank you :-)

Very informative and interesting video. Is there any benefit from the safety standpoint in replacing the BLO component with Tried and True?

The zinsser shellac, is that a 3lb mix? It's not easily available in the UK so looks like I'll need to make my ob with flakes.

In England it’s hard to get ethanol. I’ve tried to dissolve shellac in methanol (methylated spirits). It did not work. So I presume denatured alcohol is ethanol poisoned with a lesser amount of methanol and not what we know as methylated spirits, which is purple and smells different from ethanol.

rick great info.on friction polish. do you use sanding sealer first? thank you bob

thanks for the info,rick!

great tutorial...thank you..!!

Wow 5 years old but just as applicable today! Thanks for doing this video. I watch the price of finishes go up like every time I go to the wood working store. I buy many finishes at estate sales andit can be years old, my boiled linseed oil smells a bit, is this normal?

Good info, thanks.

Hi Rick, I'm a newbie in the wood turning, for the moment I turned many en and I'm very proud, but all of them are CA finish, so I'm looking for the frictinon finish and I looked your video about DIY Friction Polish, but the big problem, in Canada, we can't get any Denatured Alchool, when I do search on the web, the answer I get from Home Depot Canada is Recochem Methyl Hydrate, so I would like to if it can do the job? Thank you for all your video.

the reason there is water in denatured alcohol is that ethyl alcohol forms an azeotrope with water that boil at a lower temperature that pure ethyl alcohol. this means the the best one can do distilling ethyl alcohol is 95.5%. 100% can be made with a rather complex process. Read expensive.

Thank you sir!

There is one thing you may want to mention at a later time. Putting the friction polish in one of those plastic squeeze bottles, like what you show in the video, is ok if for a short period of time. The denatured alcohol will evaporate through the plastic and the bottle will seem to collapse in on it self over a week or two. So, if you are going to store the finish in one of these bottles, make sure you mark the level of finish on the side of the bottle. When you come back at a later time and find the level lower, just add more Denatured Alcohol to the level mark on the side of the bottle. Of course, after each use, this means one must remark the side of the bottle. I just use blue masking tape and use one of the straight edges to mark the level. A solution to this issue is to store the polishing mixture in a plastic soda pop bottle or glass mason jar. The alcohol will not evaporate through any of these containers. Thanks for the nice videos!!

shellac is cut with denatured alcohol, and boiled linseed oil is cut with mineral spirits. How can you mix min. spirits and denatured alcohol?

could the boiled linseed oil be changed out for something like danish oil?

Rick have used friction polishes but really don't care for them as they aren't as "durable" and have done some testing with shellac and walnut oil which I do like as the walnut oils will polymerize in the wood.

Awesome info...Thanks!!!

Thanks for sharing Rick. Is this similar to Cap'n Eddie's shine juice? Ed

Good info.

Rick, do you recommend this for bottle stoppers? My issues are the alcohol in the bottle affecting the finish. Also, it seems shine juice is not meant for items that are handled a lot and better for static items such as bowls and ornaments. Thanks for the help and keep up the good work. Rick

thank you for the video. Question about boiled vs. unboiled linseed oil. I prefer the unboiled, as does my friend John< He's a pro, I am not. Are there any specific reasons why one would prefer one over the other, or is it just personal preference. I prefer the way unboiled cures.

Thanks for such in depth knowledge. Great videos. I have a question. How does the polish perform on things that aren't spinning on a lathe? For example I recently turned a carvers mallet. I can't polish the ends where it fixes to the lathe whilst it's spinning so if I take it off the lathe and cut it to size and then finish the ends with sanding and this polish, will there be a noticeable difference in the finish between the bits I polished on the lathe and the bits polished off the lathe?

Hi Rick Thanks for the tutorial. Denatured alcohol or methylated spirits here in UK has a purple dye added. I'm wondering if that will make a difference? Anyway I'm going to try it. Also Danish Oil has other ingredients ( I can't remember what atm). Danish Oil was formulated for producing the semi matt finish on Danish furniture, popular in the 1950s/60s.

Hi Rick, Excellent video! I'm fairly new to wood turning and appreciate your help. How long does it take for the 3 component system to dry/cure hard? I have been using some of the Myland's Cellulose Sanding Sealer and it seems to work ok and dries fairly quickly...sometimes almost too fast to spread evenly on a larger project but it is nice as I can finish the process soon and not have to wait several hours for it to cure. I'm wondering how your formula "compares'" in open time and overall dry time? Do you suggest a second coat or a top coat/finish of some sort? I just subscribed to your site would appreciate any feed back you can provide. Thanks again, Myles

Thanks Rick, I make my own already and I use some waxes in mine as well as you mentioned and I use both bees and carnauba. I am using this almost exclusively!

great info

I got this from Captain Eddy more then 3 yrs ago he called it oj shine !

i got the smaller can of that bullseye clear shellac and that same brand of boiled linseed oil, will it be a good shine 1:1 of shellac and boiled linseed, and not add the extra alcohol?

Thanks for the lowdown, Rick. You're my kind of folk, I want to know everything about everything. I have to wonder why Zinsser contains any water at all if it is detrimental to the finish. My guess is that they're using the 91% stuff themselves, adding more just waters it down too much.

Thank you so much this is a great informational video!

Hi. Can Methyl Hydrate be used in place of the denatured alcohol?

Can mineral oil be substituted for linseed oil so the wood won't be darkened by the linseed oil

thank you

Thanks Rick, very informative, but how would you get carnuba wax in the mix. Isn't it a solid?

Hi Rick good information but i can only get the shellac flakes in the UK do you know what proportions i need to use. Do i mix the shellac and alcohol first to melt the shellac then add the oil. Do i use the blonde de waxed shellac i don't know if you can help me if not it does not matter. Thank you Pete

About the shelf life I have had mine in a sauce squeeze bottle for about three years and it still works great. However I don't think I have any metho left in the mix.

can i use shellac for a good sanding seal overall especially for end grain tear out

Very informative and interesting, thank you

2019...I live in Calif and just found out that denatured alcohol has been banned and is nowhere to be found. what else can I use?

Thanks for the informative video. I want to try mixing my own but have a question. If I don't mix enough and run out while finishing a project and don't cover the entire project can I start where I left off to finish the first or subsequent coat(s)? What brand of wax or oil do you recommend and where can I find it? 😊 Last question.... What is a good website or reference on ratios for making your own shellac or friction polish?

There used to be a parks product But they may have went out of business they also made shellac all-time painters used it to cover water stains

Deft also makes a liquid shellac but it's hard to find. Ace hardware sometimes carries it.

what happened to the old individual application method?

If your a shellac purist (some might say snob...) try mixing the flakes with Everclear - 95% alcohol and available from your local liquor store. That's what period furniture restorers use when repairing shellac finishes on precious antiques. Myself, I'm with you. I use denatured alcohol. It's cheaper.

Denatured alcohol is not found in California, imagine that the dopes in the no fun zone (state gov.) don’t want a nice finish.

New sub good content!

is it hard when come dry .did not mark your hand to any wood project.

Rick, a whole lot of information here. I always begin my finishes with 3 coats of shellac and spun dry, no matter what type of top coat I use.SAFE TURNING, John

Thank you for the detailed information, just what I was looking for! As for your jokes...well let’s just say keep your day job. Stand-up comedy isn’t your strong suit:)

Just buy shellac flakes and make right cut to start with.

Great video Rick!

Interesting facts regarding shellac. Tried the mixture on a mesquite bowl I just turned and it looks pretty nice. My zinzzer shellac was a couple years old and was sticky a bit. Will be picking up some new fresh ingredients. Thanks for the great video Rick.

So once I mix this up, I can drink it, right? ;-)

Not a secret, called OB shine juice brought to you by Capt Eddie. Now that recipe is not ideal as oil will float and the finish will dull over time. Try my recipe, FRENCHY'S shine juice: 10% BLO, 30% DA, and 60% shellac, will build a finish faster, more durable and will retain its shine over time.

Shellacfinishes.com have there own brand of shellac

I’ll give you a nice chunk if you come. Lol. I’d be more than happy to see you turn it.

Whew, between this video "what friction polish is and how to make it" and the next video "use and abuse of friction polish", it's over an hour! Even at double speed that's hard to take.

It looks as though you could benefit from funnel technology, Rick.

Could add bee's wax to this

If your ever in Michigan I’ll give you a nice cherry burl to turn.

Cool. It’s. OJ shine juice 🧃