wet sanding with finish as lubricant

[Jake Truxal]

Yesterday, my nephew who is a professional gun smith, told me about a method he uses when finishing gun stocks. He wet sands using the oil finish he is using as the lubricant instead of water and he said it fills all the pores to get a nice smooth finish. Anyone familiar or used this approach? I did a quick try of it this morning on the inside if a bowl I was working on which was a bit rough at the end grain and it made it smooth. I was using Tung Oil.

 

[Griesbach]

Yes, Jake, this does work well and I have done this in the past. When I do it it's usually with the final two or three grits.

 

[Jake Truxal]

how high do you normally go with your grits? The highest grit paper I have is 600 so I was starting this at 320.

 

[Barbara Gill]

I use an oil finish. Using oil is the only way I would wet sand.

 

[Griesbach]

how high do you normally go with your grits? The highest grit paper I have is 600 so I was starting this at 320.

Depending on the situation I'll start to wet sand with 220 or 320 using the oil I'm going to finish with.

 

[Jake Truxal]

Depending on the situation I'll start to wet sand with 220 or 320 using the oil I'm going to finish with.

do you stop at 600?

 

[Griesbach]

Sometimes I'll go beyond 400 but not often. It depends on the project.