My secret is mostly just elbow grease.

You mentioning that $8 tool made me laugh. I spent like forty bucks on some fancy electric scalp thing that just buzzed really loud and died after a month. Should have just gotten the cheap one. My wife uses one of those scrubbers with a basic clarifying shampoo once a week and swears by it.

You think the forklift driver didn't judge? That guy had an opinion on every piece of metal I pulled out. He'd just shake his head and mutter about my life choices while loading it. The mystery was fun until you wasted a whole weekend on a chunk of something that cracked as soon as you looked at it wrong. I'll take boring and reliable for actually finishing a project.

Yeah, that orange peel thing is exactly what happened to me. I found that just using a fan on low across the room works way better... it moves the air without cooking the finish. Letting each coat sit for a full hour before even thinking about the next one made a huge difference.

Offered free checks, never lost a customer like @hayden_king said.