Hello All. I'm working on a speaker project using Bamboo ply. I read and learned so much from this forum but in some case it's information overload. What finish I elected was a wipe-on varnish after a few trial pieces of different products. I'm using Pratt and Lambert 38, gloss so far. I've been diluting it 50/50 with MS. At first I had slight issues now I have my application down pretty good.
I followed the bus boy wipe-on procedure at first now I adjusted it somewhat, I just wipe on a thin coat with the grain like Marc from the woodwhisper shows. I apply two coats a couple hours apart, repeat after 24 or 48hrs sanding lightly after the first two sets. Anyway that's not my issue. I'm starting to be concerned with the final rub out process. Basically I just want an even sheen, ideally satin, very smooth to the touch. A couple issues I see. One is the open grain of the bamboo (I didn't realize it was that much until now). Sanding a trial piece the ingrain remains gloss while the surface could be sanded to the sheen I like. I guess I will continue to apply coat with some sanding in between to help fill them in. Another is that I may have over sanded the raw wood. What I mean by that is the front baffle is ever so slightly wavy...around the speaker cutouts it's recessed a little as are the baffle perimeter so sanding with a block shows high and low spots. The tops are also a little wavy as they are stacked end pieces.
Anyway this is an all out effort to get it the way I would like. I have Abralon pads, a Festool ETS EC 150/3 at my disposal..so any products available to help I will consider. I guess one of the hardest parts is waiting 3-4wks before I can try it and if I fail...ugh...start over. So I'm trying to find a pretty fool proof method. Oh if you haven't noticed I am pretty new at this.
Here's a few pictures. They kind of show it worse than it really is. In fact I could almost leave it as is...no runs or imperfections yet...but I'm not. I can give more details if it helps...suggestions much appreciated.
-Scott
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