wet sanding

[Dave Fritz]

I'm wondering how many of you wet sand your projects?

If so do you use regular sandpaper or something special?

Thanks for the information, it's always helpful.

Dave F.

 

[gary rock]

Dave-

I wet sand my pieces with wet/dry paper along with Danish Oil as the medium. Usually get the wet/dry paper at auto parts and or paint stores ( also you can get some at the box stores). I start out with 600 grit and go up to 2000 grit. For my aluminum and acrylic finials I go up to 12000 micro using water as the medium. By wet sanding your pieces you can get what I call the solf feel of the wood and people love to hold and rub the pieces for the love the feel. You feel the wood instead of the finish such as wipe-on-poly.

Gary:cool2:

 

[Dave Fritz]

Thanks so much Gary - do you use regular dry paper for grits below 600?

Thanks again.

Dave F.

 

[Mjonesrdg]

A voice of opposition

I'm an opponent of wet sanding bare wood. I know that many turners do this regularly, and expound upon the value of the resulting "slurry" as a grain filler. The slurry will be a mixture of the light grain wood and the dark, and will, to a lesser or greater degree, diminish the contrast that we so dearly want to preserve. Wet sanding non-porous surfaces, such as metals, plastics, and painted/varnished woods helps prevent build-up in the sandpaper and makes the surface more visible to the person doing the sanding. No problem there.

Wet sanding with a drying oil, such as Danish Oil, almost assures that some of the "grey" slurry will remain in the microscopic pores permanently, (and possibly some of the sandpaper grit as well). I can't get behind vigorously rubbing dirty brownish paste onto (and into) a turning.

Use really good sandpaper, and use your compressed air to clean between grits and to clean your paper of build-up and your finished products will most certainly have more of the "pop" that you want.

Mike .....in Redding, Ca.

 

[gary rock]

Dave-

I sand to 400 with regular good quality sand paper. And the last sanding with 400, I go with the grain to minimize the scratchers. I cut my wet/dry paper into strips of 2 x 4 inches and fold over. After cutting the pieces into strips, I ues a Marks-A-Lot and label each grit and stack them in order that I wll use them. Dipping the paper into a dish that has the oil in it to sand with. Use fresh paper for each sanding. Again let the pieces dry before disposing of them.

What Mike has said hold true, after sanding blow off your piece with compressed air.

To add further to my answer, I put on a very heavy coat of Danish Oil first, let it sit and for about 10 minutes the wipe off the excess. Over the next 24 hours I wipe the piece down because it will eject the excess oil finish. After a couple of days, I again apply a heavy coat of Danish then begin to wet sand, wiping the piece between coats with a paper towel. Make sure that when you are finished, place the rags, paper towels out to dry completely before desposing of them. Depending on what yopu have in mind for your piece and the finish, after the wet sanding is done. You can wipe the piece down with mineral spirits to remove any build-up of the slurry, set aside to dry. Again watch the piece for it will again eject the oil that was used during the wet sanding. After a day or so it will stop the ejection of the oil and depending on the finish that you what to apply, let it dry for a week or so.

If you plan on using a hard finish such as wipe-on-poly, you can use mineral spirits also to wet sand with. Make sure that there is no flame of any kind present when doing this.

Gary:cool2:

 

[Dave Fritz]

Thank you Gary and Mike. Lots to ponder and think about.

Dave F.

 

[John Torchick]

I ues a Marks-A-Lot and label each grit

I do this all the time as I use some small pieces of sandpaper for projects. Sometimes the sandpaper doesn't have the grit number on it.
Interesting thread and replies- have to try both ways and see the results on some test wood with contrasting colors.

 

[MichaelMouse]

Do the side-by-side of a piece of flat scrap finished with wet sanding and one without. I think the difference will be obvious. Was to me, which is why I may sand wet wood, but no longer wet sand.

If you're a flat type as well, try one which is from a plane edge without any sanding and note how even dry sanding steals from what the wood could be.