Advice for finishing ebonite?

Wet sanding (to 15K) and plastic polish give me a great finish on acrylic and CA. Ebonite is a new challenge? And thoughts would be appreciated.

My favourite was plastic polishing compound, Farecla Profile 200,300 and500. I seem to be remember ebonite being a bit more difficult to finish than acrylic but I'd be inclined to dry sand through the grits to at least 600, maybe 800, then I'd use the farecla starting with the 200 then 300 then 500. Worked for me


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Touchy stuff.

Peter.

by coincidence, the polish that I have is the farecla. I don't have the 200, only the 300 and 500. For both ebonite and acrylic, I wet sand to 320-400, and then apply the polish. Going to 600 wouldn't do any harm, but I wouldn't bother with the micro mesh grades. Black is probably the hardest to finish, partly because it shows up every imperfection, but my black material seems harder than any of the coloured stuff that I have turned- maybe a higher carbon content.

Other polishes may work- that is the only one that I have used.

You will be rewarded for careful turning, and for making sure that every trace of the previous grit is removed. Remove the scratches, and the dust produced at each stage. The 120 grit gouge doesn't seem so useful on ebonite. If I have a bad day on wood, I can often rescue it with sanding (as long as it isn't too close to the finished size). On ebonite, I would rather leave it to another day and try to correct the mistake with a tool. maybe that is just me.

I think that if you can get a good finish on ca and on acrylic, then it isn't worlds apart. Your method should work fine.

I also found I got better finish by being very thorough during the sanding, buy sanding each grit with the lathe spinning then sanding up and down the barrels with the lathe off before moving on to the next grit, to make sure I had removed all the scratches left when the lathe was spinning. I realise that is just good practise but I found it really did help. Of course, care is needed to ensure that the material isn't over sanded and you end up removing too much

Keeping the heat down is key with ebonite. If you overheat it through sanding at too high s speed, the surface will bloom and you'll never revive it.

I've had good results by sanding to 1200 wet and dry (used wet) the burnishing with Chestnut burnishing cream. Buff it with clean tissue until every trace of residue is removed. I have no experience of Farcela, so I have no idea if its preferable, but that's the method I employ.

I agree with Phil. Overheating is the enemy of a good finish on ebonite. Farecla 500 will give a finish similar to Chestnut burnishing cream.

I use this dual direction sanding technique on everything as a matter of practice and it has served me really well. Thanks for replying!

Using the burnishing cream while the work is mounted on the lathe, correct? (You're not using a buffing wheel?) I don't have any experience with either of the products mentioned in responses...

Thanks to all for responding. I have learned many of these lessons already (i.e. "heat is bad," "black is difficult") the hard way. I will take all of your information back to the "mad laboratory" and set about Trial Number 37...or 38...I've lost count. Thanks again.