Saturday, March 21, 2009

Finished


I got most of the box work done yesterday and just had lots of sanding and finishing to do today. 
I just go from belt sanding at 40 grit to 150 with an orbital sander and then again to 240. Any stubbornly deep marks I scrape out with the side of a chisel or one of the small plane blades. Then on to a very fine paper. Wetting the wood between sanding is advised in some quarters. This causes the grain to pop up from where it has been compressed flat. I don't wet the wood, but when on the very fine paper I breathe on it like you would on a mirror to polish it. That has similar effect, but very mild.
I used Laquer on this box, I read somewhere about using the base of old spray cans turned upside down to mix small quantities of paint etc. I stick a can in the vice and thin down just enough lacquer to do one coat easily. Straight lacquer is very stiff to work into the grain, so thining it means it can be brushed on easily and the excess wiped off.  I only did two coats about 5 hours apart.