Removing wax from resin

Hey guys, I know this has been asked before, but read the whole thing before you say “search the archives”

Well, I accidentally used sanding resin by accident when making the resin bead for my fins. Little bits of the fins and the bases of the fins are covered in sanding resin as a result.

First of all, I understand that in order to hot-coat over it or put layers of glass over the fins, I have to get rid of the styrene wax by sanding it down.

Second of all, since it’s such a miniscule layer of resin, do I have to sand it? I still haven’t put layers of glass on the fins, so I’m gonna have to put laminating resin over the resin bead I think. Will the sanding resin for the resin bead mess that up?

Also, I understand that it’s best to use like 100 grit sandpaper to get rid of all the wax. So how do I know that all the styrene wax is out of the resin after sanding? About how much time would I have to spend sanding the area around the fins to get rid of the styrene wax? I know there’s no “exact time” it takes to sand down the small area, but about how much time should it take by HAND (not orbital sander).

The only reason I don’t want to do it is because as I said, the fins don’t have a layer of glass. They’re standing up by a thin layer of resin. I’m going to have to sand on (got little drops of resin ON the fin by accident) and around the fin, and if I don’t have to risk breaking the fin off, I won’t. I spent a half hour putting them on, because they are fins for a bonzer. They have 20 degrees of cant, so it was a BIG pain getting them to stay. I used about 10 feet of tape =P

Thanks in advance

JLW, first off you don’t have to use 100 grit, but you should finish off with 100 grit before glossing. You can use 60 grit for what you are doing. Just sand until the shine is gone, that will not take all that long, you do not have to put a lam, coat on just lay up your galss on the hot coat that you sanded down. You should not have any problems. Just make sure all of the shine is gone, look at it from different angles, and use a light to make sure.

Okay Bagman, thanks a lot. Your help is appreciated.