Sanding - Phase 2

[Kerry13709]

Well, after one hech of a day sanding between showers, I still like 4 or 5 pieces. Could not find wet or dry sandpaper in Big Box, or local Ace hardware. I did find a hard foam block with med on one side and fine on the other. Would guess the med side was 100 - 120. It worked well enough I guess, but boy am I sore all over! I still don't have all the valleys out, but need more input on whether to go ahead and have the goldspar sprayed on. I used a 150 grit block after the med block. Will post a couple of images of where I am so far.

 

[Ross]

Anyone who finds fault with that doesn't have

enough to do. It is looking very good. Are you satisfied with it?

 

[Rodger]

It will work fine

That will work fine but there is a better way. Buy a good (not cheep) palm sander, one that uses adhesive backed sanding paper. It will do a great job in 5 minutes. I spent the money on a Portercable sander 15 years ago and it is still one of the best investments that I have ever made.

 

[Patrick S/V Shangra-La]

Wet Rag

Many times you'll want to resand with 250 or 300 grit to get that last bit of stubble out of the wood. A good way to check is with a wet rag. Wipe it across the wood and after 10 minutes rub your hand acros the grain. If the stubble you fell is heavy it will show up in your varnish. Sand with 300 or 400 till the stubble is gone after another wet rag then you are reddy for a great finish with you varnish. The job is a lot easier with an orbital sander let the machine do the work, not you.

 

[Kerry13709]

Sanders

I have a power sander that takes the approx four inch wide strips, but when I tried to use it, it apparantly creates to much heat and gums the finish up. Not sure it it is called an orbital or not. I had to wipe away the residue created by hand sanding every few minutes or risk it getting gummed up.Ross, I believe I am satisfied. Just wondering how the varnish will adhere to the shiney spots that are left. The tech support from west system suggested trying the varnish on one section and see how it looks before doing all of them.Sorry for the late reply, but After posting last night, I layed down for a few minutes, and that was it until this morning.

 

[Kerry13709]

Patrick

sounds like you think I am sanding bare wood. This has three coats of west epoxy on it. Images of the finish after first rough sand can be found by searching Epoxy bubbles. I probably should have added this post to it instead of starting a new one. I had major air bubbles that had popped on the surface that I was sanding away to apply the varnish which will be interlux goldspar, a poly varnish. They suggest using 120-150 grit on prefinishd varnish in good shape, so I used 150 after getting the major bubbles out. They also recommend 220 between coats.

 

[Patrick S/V Shangra-La]

Sorry Kerry

I did think you were working with rough wood. Sanding the surface apoxy, rough enough for the new to adhere will be just fine. Have a good paint brush handy to work out any bubbles which may show up. Using 220 between coats should dull the shine which will allow the next coat to adhere well. Good Luck; PS: dont use an electric sander a sanding block will work well for you. Patrick *sry

 

[Ross]

Patrick, You can save a lot of effort if when you get to the

point of very smooth but still has a little fuzz if you apply a very thin coat of varnish thinned abut 3:1 with thinner and allow that to dry. The thin varnish serve to stabilize the fuzz so that you can sand it off with 220 grit. Before the advent of the urethane finishes we used very thin shellac.

 

[Jim Seamans]

Kerry - looking good

get yourself a decent orbital sander, eight holes with a dust collector. Buy the large packs of sanding paper, 100, 220 grit. At this point I would just use the 220 and sand your pieces. Just let the weight of the sander do the work, don't press it down and keep it moving over the piece. It will level the epoxy and should not cut through to the wood. If you think it is a little thin, add another coat of epoxy. Lightly sand it after it drys for a day and you be ready to put the varnish on.JimS/V Java

 

[Kerry13709]

To the sprayer

I took the pieces to the sprayer today and he said it looked ok to go ahead with the varnish. Soooo, its in his hands at this point. I should have it back next week. Will post a few more pics then.