I glued up boards for a counter top... and just had them run through a large belt sander at a local shop and have very nice 1-1/2" tops ready to finish. They used 60 grit to get close to 1-1/2" and remove surface imperfections then finished with a couple passes at 80.
I know I need to go finer by hand before I use the General Finishes Dark Brown Dye stain... followed by three coats of GF High Performance Satin.
I have a Bosch ROS20VS. Is a ROS right for this? I assume I should be going over the entire surface lightly in a progression from 120, 180 and ending with 220? Followed by vac, microfiber wipe, blow with air... then stain? Should I use distilled water to raise the grain before 120, in between grits or after 220?
Since the top is 5ft x 2ft my plan is to spray the dye stain onto the top to get it on quickly and uniformly... then wipe it off with staining rag. Let it dry a couple days, and then spray the High performance Satin coats. I plan to test this finishing process on the bottom of the counter top first... since I want to seal all sides anyway.
Would it be better to do the last sanding at 220 by hand with a Prepp'in Weapon sanding block in the direction of the grain only to keep the ROS from creating cross grain marks that the dye may accentuate?
This is my first time finishing a counter top... is there anything i am missing or doing wrong?
Thank you for your expert advice for a novice...