# dry sanding/wet sanding/buffing worthless wood



## doddman70 (Jun 20, 2009)

Ok when I turn and finish any kind of plastic after about 400 grit I then switch to wet sanding all the way through my MM. I have started casting a lot of worthless wood blanks and I have been finishing them the same way until I had one where the wood swelled to bad and ruined the blank. So what is the best way to sand these to get them ready for a ca finish? Should I just continue the way I have always done plastics and just know that I may have the occasional blank swell and ruined after I have put all the time and money into making and turning the blank? Or is there a better way ? Would this be the time to buy a buffing system? Go ahead and dry sand like normal and then buff with Tripoli and white diamond. What say the masses!!!


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## hewunch (Jun 20, 2009)

I do 220, 400 and 1500 grit dry on all things which have wood. Then I do CA then I wet sand through MM


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## ngeb528 (Jun 20, 2009)

Eugene (ElMostro) told me to turn as normal, apply several coats of CA and wet sand like you normally would on acrylics.  Be sure to add enough CA that you don't wet sand through.


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## hewunch (Jun 20, 2009)

ngeb528 said:


> Eugene (ElMostro) told me to turn as normal, apply several coats of CA and wet sand like you normally would on acrylics.  Be sure to add enough CA that you don't wet sand through.



This will work IF you have no tool marks left over. If you have any tool marks, you will make them look worse by not sanding (or removing the marks) first before the CA


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## ngeb528 (Jun 20, 2009)

hewunch said:


> This will work IF you have no tool marks left over. If you have any tool marks, you will make them look worse by not sanding (or removing the marks) first before the CA


 
Of course.  I use a nice sharp skew to remove the tool marks.


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## doddman70 (Jun 20, 2009)

Let me see If I'm following correctly... dry sand as normal to about 1200, then even though the plastic part of the blank is not totally sanded yet go ahead and do a couple of CA coats and then wet sand through my MM wet and then do my CA finish?


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## hewunch (Jun 20, 2009)

You are adding a step. Once you sand to 1200 or 1500 dry, just do your ca finish from there.


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## doddman70 (Jun 21, 2009)

hewunch said:


> You are adding a step. Once you sand to 1200 or 1500 dry, just do your ca finish from there.



Ok then maybe I'm not following... If I'm only dry sanding to 1200 and then doing a CA finish is the Alumilite going to be polished enough without using MM wet to 12000?


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## MesquiteMan (Jun 21, 2009)

You do not need the Alumilite to be completely sanded. I dry sand to 600, then clean the blank real well with CA accelerator, then apply 2 coats of thin CA and 4 coats of medium CA. I then sand it out like I would any other CA finish. The CA will fill any of the small scratches left in the resin and make them go away without any problems.

At least that has been my experience and I have been doing them for a while!:biggrin:


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## Spats139 (Feb 20, 2011)

MesquiteMan said:


> You do not need the Alumilite to be completely sanded. I dry sand to 600, then clean the blank real well with CA accelerator, then apply 2 coats of thin CA and 4 coats of medium CA. I then sand it out like I would any other CA finish. The CA will fill any of the small scratches left in the resin and make them go away without any problems.
> 
> At least that has been my experience and I have been doing them for a while!:biggrin:



Amazing what the "Search" :search: option will turn up. Tried my first worthless wood blank last night, and I experienced most of the problems that are discussed here. Will try Curtis' suggestion with the next one.

Curtis, Have you made any changes in the last year and a half?

Thanks,
Dale


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## toddlajoie (Feb 20, 2011)

I usually go straight from tools to 400 grit with the lathe running, then with the lathe off, I hit them with 6/8/1200 dry by hand, which helps keep the heat down with these grits. Then as others have said, hit it with CA and finish as normal. The acrylic, as Curtis sais, will have it's scratches cleared up by the CA filling in any scratches, but the wood will need to be as smooth as you can get it...

Just like with most other processes, you'll get a lot of different processes, and all work well for some and not for others...


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