Gloss coat wet sanding or dry?

General Discussion
1

I have been sanding the gloss coat with 400 and 600 wet by hand but I have read that one can use a softpad and sand dry. Can someone tell me what is the easier method for sanding the gloss coat?

2

After brushing the Gloss coat, I use a 7" sander starting with 320 to take down any non-level spots. Then switch to 400, then to 600. I use lower speeds.

I used to only sand dry, but the risk is that the heat creates to much friction and literally melts the resin and then you get these nasty little ripples. Not very nice. Now I only power sand wet.

I think sanding wet does enable you to work quicker and be a little more efficient.

Drew

3

Thanks Drew, I will give the power wet sanding a try. My arms need a rest from all the hand sanding. :slight_smile:

4

Cappio,

Done correctly you should not need much time with the power sander. Maybe three or four passes for each grade. Remember to use lower speed settings.

Drew

5 
Howzit cappio, Drew has it right on, I would add that when doing dry sanding I lighten the pressure I put on the sander to keep from loading up the W/D paper . Aloha,Kokua
6

Mahalo Kokua, I like that wet concept better, was unsure if wet sandpaper would behave nicely in a power sander while dry. I just gave it a shot and let me tell you…my arms are sooooo happy! Thanks to both.

7

do you just lightly wet the grit then , or are you talking wet the whole board lightly ?

The concept of water and electricity combined scares me a bit… ‘shocks’, might be about the right word !!

[as you can probably tell, I have only handsanded. Obviously , it’s tedious / slow , though]

   ben
8

I took a bucket and splashed the board and then rubbed the water around with my hand so that the entire board had a thin layer of water (much like after you pick your board up out of the water).

I too was reluctant to through water around my Harbor Freight sander (never know if they really wired it up correctly), at some point you just have to trust those GFIs.

Cleanlines in the Master Glasser video used his hand to splash water on to the board. I figure my board was slightly wetter but similar to his board.

Hopefully some more experienced sanders will chime in. Sanding was my worst part.

9

best thing about wet sanding…you can do it in the rain!!!

I wouldn’t worry about getting the sander a little wet. It won’t hurt it. Just make sure that you are not standing in a big puddle of water.

As far as how muh water to put on the board…I keep a pitcher next to the rack and occasionally splash some on as I go. I also keep a sponge so as to wipe off the paper. You can get a sort of an oatmeal-like buildup on the paper and wiping it off with a wet sponge cleans it off.

You don’t need a lot of water on the board. Jut a light film. Important thing is to not let the water dissapate under the paper. Another way to do it is to keep a spray bottle and continuously spray the area where your sanding.

Drew