High gloss finish learning curve

[Phil Mueller]

Thought I’d give a high gloss rubbed out finish a try on a walnut burl box. Following a number of online video processes, I decided on a bunch of coats of spray lacquer, level sand with 320, follow up with 500, 800, 1000, 2000, then auto swirl remover polish and finished with auto fine polish. I hand sanded vs ROS, except for the auto polish...used a ROS with the Festool soft felt pads.

Well, let the lessons begin. Rattle can about 10 coats. Let dry two weeks. At about the 500 grit stage, I saw that I had gone through the finish at the edges (yes, all the vids said be careful around the edges...guess I wasn’t as careful as I needed to be).

So, resprayed about 5 more coats, waited another two weeks, and decided to start at 500 grit vs 320. When all was said and done, I ended up with one small area that was either over sanded or polish burn through...not sure. Under close scrutiny, there are some small sanding scratches visible in a raking light.

This was about a 6 week process and I may just have to call this good. I’ll probably do a couple more boxes just for winter fun. I’ll definitely start with more coats of finish and likely skip the 320 grit...just seems too aggressive...don’t know. Start with 400 or 500 perhaps.

Doing something for the first time always comes with some expectation for less than perfect, and this is certainly that. But always fun to give something new a try. I figure it took me a lot of tries to get reasonably good at french polish...so I expect this to take some time as well.

Any input/suggestions/experience welcome.

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[Jim Becker]

I'm starting at 800 with my guitar bodies and only then if they need leveling due to orange peel or something. Otherwize, I start at 1500 MicroMesh and work up from there. The most frustrating thing with any high-gloss finish is that it totally amplifies any "little thing"...and I'm prone to many "little things" in my work. LOL

[Phil Mueller]

Thanks for that input, Jim. I was definitely thinking of starting at a higher grit. In my case, it needed some leveling, but I’m betting 800 or higher would take care of it.

[John TenEyck]

It looks really good to me, Phil. We often are our own worst critics.

John

[michael dilday]

This is probably obvious but I will mention it anyway. When sanding finishes or anything on the edge I make sure I never overlap more than 1/4 of the sanding pad over the edge and always keep the sandpaper/orbital sander flat on the workpiece. Never lean the sander over the edge when sanding.