Actually most of us use quality 3M wet dry sand paper, but use it dry. Using your paper dry will allow you to see any burn throughs. Just go through the grits like dry paper. Keep the paper clean, and don't let the little gummys form on the paper. Keep an old worn sheet of higher grit to clean the sheet you are working on.
You probably know this..But, to get the shiny pop! you need to use polish the board once it's sanded out. A board sanded to 2000 grit will still be dull and matted. polish brings out the shine. In most instances, sanding beyond 600 grit is a waste of time if sanding properly and swirl free. Using a good polishing compound will remove the last haze and polish out to a shine.
sand paper is only good for removing scratches. Bigger scratches become smaller scratches, become smaller, smaller, smaller, smaller..........then you polish it out with a quality 3M product, like Perfect It. See! easy.
Use quality 3M products and your sanding will be much easier.
I’m curious, what is the restriction to using water where you work? When you are wet asanding you need to keep the surface wet, stops paper clogging and lubricates the process, giving a finer finish and reducing dust. I usually use a sponge to trickle water over the surface as I go, making sure the paper is cleaner than a clean thing.
Are you hand sanding/polishing or using a machine? I use a machine for coarse finishing and a sanding blolk (hand sanding) for anything finer than 400 grit. Remember, straight lines for this work, not little circles. Avoid random/orbital machines for finishing work. They may be quicker but a good finish and quick don’t normally go together. A buffing machine should be okay for the finishing compound but if you can’t wet sand that might not be an option either. I just finished a hollow wood board for my daughter and have decided to let the gloss coat of epoxy be the finish. Can’t see the pretty glass smooth sheen once it’s covered in wax!!
When it comes to paper, 3m is the best ever in the entire world!!
Machines don’t make straight lines (unless it’s a belt sander - wrong choce) You should be using a block for finishing, hands are too uneven. Straight strokes with the block. Buffing machine is okay but go lightly. Start with 400 on a block then go down from there.
if you start with 500 after a gloss coat, you are doing something wrong
do you sand long enough?
do you use grits in between the 500 and 1000?
i mean, you want to have the board ready to surf after the 500, it should feel pretty damn silky after a good 500 sanding
you do have to sand a while before you get the shine, for all the grits, and for all the buffing compounds…
another tip, when you buff, use a wool pad, like the merino wool from italy, not just kidding. but wool is what you want to use, it actually is so hard, it sands real well,
then, when you final polish, go for a foam pad
i use 3 compounds for polishing, coarse, middle and fine…
again, you should sand real well, go over it til you are bored
but be carefulk with that machine!
and really clean well after using compounds, use clean rags
You guys are killing me here. it's not that hard. Disk sanding will not leave swirl marks unless you get something contaminating your sand paper or you work surface. Meaning: those little resin zits that stick to your sand paper will scratch your finished sanded surface...keep your paper clean. Keep sand, little rocks, wood chips any little miniscule thing that is harder than resin off the working surface, Green resin is not that hard, and takes at least a week to really cure tough. Even when it's cure it still scratches easy.. So when you sand keep a bench brush handy and dust off the surface continually. When you cut your paper to fit your sanding disk, make sure the edges are square, not round. And make sure you curl the square edges up. Do this through the grits to 500 or 600. Then polish with a very. very,cery clean wool pad.....or a very, very, very clean foam pad, actually have a few wool pads to change out once they get matted down. Don't over apply polishing compound. over applying will mat down the wool and turn your polishing pad into a peice of cardboard. Then you start picking up , sand, little rocks, chunks of wood and old resin zits in you matted down wool pad.....then you scratch your surface and you got to start all over.
The biggest issue you should have to deal with is burning through the resin to the weave. Hand sanding is for the young. Use the machine...the machine will save your rotorcuff. Auto body guys don't polish by hand....why should you?
By the right material to polish properly and you shouldn't have many problems.
The reason why we don't wetsand much is because it throws shit everywhere, it electrocutes you, And when you think you did a good job...it drys off to expose a big ol sand through, or scratches that could have been circumvented doing it dry.
I have tried after gloss coat to start with less than 500gr but it takes to many steps to goto 1000gr (and the swirls I have seen after a 600gr can be removed from compound )
I start with 500 then 600 then 800 then 1000, but everitime the paper is full of those little resin zits that stick… and I can’t imagine how the sand without!!!
I mean, just after sand a little area the paper become full of zits…
As soon as I can I will post a photo that show my finish job with the swirls!!
Here's a trick to get rid of those little resin zits.... use a stainless steel ruler and run the edge against the sandpaper as it's spinning. The ruler edge shaves them right off and the sandpaper ends up almost good as new.
