Hard wax has some abrassive content but it is primarily a wax, not a
polish -- it fills in tiny holes in the surface, which polishers do
not do.


This is what Heinz at M&H told me. In addition, the heat generated by
the process also softens the gelcoat which further helps to seal fine
cracks. You need a powerful angle buffer to generate this kind of heat,
as Ted clearly understands. Something that almost blows your circuit
breaker will suffice :-) - the US$40 polishers at Sears will not. Heinz
also repairs a few ships a year where a bit too much heat was generated
- especially on the thin control surfaces. It's a process that needs to
be learned and I'm still working on it - slowly

Tony V. LS6-b "6N"