Carl, Everyone has a favorite way of finishing. The most important thing I know of is preparation. There are a few principles though. Coarse grit paper takes off a lot of material but also makes pretty deep scratches in the surface. If you need to remove a lot of surface then start with very coarse grit but you will also have to move down through a larger variety of finer grits to take out the bigger scratches working your way down.
For most purposes I start at about 80 grit unless the wood is well planed then to about 120 then maybe 200 grit. I have some 400 and I think some 600 grit but don't usually go to the very finest until between coats of finish. I have some pumice and rottenstone which I sometimes mix with a bit of oil but more often I will use something called rubbing compound between coats which is a product I buy for car polishing. It is a very fine rottenstone or something like it, might be garnet mixed into some sort of paste. I will apply it between the later coats of clear finish, it actually removes a very little of the very top of the finish. I do use a scraper but don't have a really good one for the purpose. I may use it immediately before applying the first coat but I will often use it between coats to knock off any flecks of dust that might be caught in the surface before rubbing with a 400 or finer paper and as I said before may rub it with that rubbing compound in the later coats. I will vacuum the surfaces down in the early stages with a soft brush but after the second coat usually use a tack cloth or even a moist rag to tack off any dust just to keep the vacuum from blowing anything unnecessarily into the air. In place of a scraper I will sometimes use a very sharp chisel at a very flat angle gently shaving any small bits away, this takes great care not to mar the surface. In practice, when I have a lot of material to remove I use a belt sander. I also have a variety of blocks and other sanding pads to keep the paper flat. Our local hardware store sometimes has sponges about four by three by one inch with some sort of abrasive on them I really like, there are three grades and when I see them I pick up a pack with all three. Lee Valley also sells a series of thin foam sheets I think there are five grades with abrasive on them about four by five I think which are pretty nice under a block of wood and can conform for sanding moldings or other profiles cut on edges. I really don't know what is the correct or best type of finishing scraper, there are slightly convex ones usually used when flattening a surface with long planes to remove the plane marks but the sort for final finishing I believe are very flat. They are used to level inlay and marquetry but I don't know anyone who does that sort of work or who knows what tools are used. Dale Leavens, Cochrane Ontario Canada [EMAIL PROTECTED] Skype DaleLeavens Come and meet Aurora, Nakita and Nanook at our polar bear habitat. ----- Original Message ----- From: "carlhickson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, December 19, 2006 4:03 PM Subject: [BlindHandyMan] finishing > what gives the best finishing sanding or sanding and scrapeing what sort > of scrapor and what grade o paper shud i go down to i like a finish to bee > proud off > and can anyone advise me on french polishing? and all that sort of thing > yours carl > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > To listen to the show archives go to link > http://acbradio.org/handyman.html > or > ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/handyman/ > > The Pod Cast address for the Blind Handy Man Show is. > http://www.acbradio.org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=saturday > > The Pod Cast address for the Cooking In The Dark Show is. > http://www.gcast.com/u/cookingindark/main.xml > > Visit the new archives page at the following address > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > For a complete list of email commands pertaining to the Blind Handy Man > list just send a blank message to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.1.409 / Virus Database: 268.15.22/590 - Release Date: > 16/12/2006 > > To listen to the show archives go to link http://acbradio.org/handyman.html or ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/handyman/ The Pod Cast address for the Blind Handy Man Show is. http://www.acbradio.org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=saturday The Pod Cast address for the Cooking In The Dark Show is. http://www.gcast.com/u/cookingindark/main.xml Visit the new archives page at the following address http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ For a complete list of email commands pertaining to the Blind Handy Man list just send a blank message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/blindhandyman/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/blindhandyman/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
