Statue bases – day 7
Before I apply the second coat of poly, I need to sand down the finish to remove any raised grain or dust nibs that settled on the boxes while they dried. I usually prefer to use a fine steel wool, because it forms around the moldings nicely, and it is not too aggressive. One problem, All my steel wool and sand paper is in that cabinet in the far corner, behind the newly erected spray booth. Since I don’t really feel like crawling under my bench or climbing over it, I decided to look for alternatives…
My sand paper and steel wool are in that cabinet
Over by my lathe, I have some sanding pads and some Scotch-Brite pads. The sanding pads are too heavy a grit, and I have never been happy with the results of sanding the finish with the Scotch-Brite, but I also noticed that I had a pack of sanding strips, for the lathe. They go all the way up to 600 grit. Only problem is that they are only 1″ wide. Oh well, a little more sanding will save me from crawling through the mess under my bench…
My back-up abrasives
Using Scotch-Brite pads first
I chose the 400 grit paper and tore off a 6″ long strip. First I sanded the box with the Fine Scotch-Brite pad, then I sanded the surface with the 400 grit paper.
Using 400 grit sand paper next
After wiping the boxes down, I fired up the sprayer again. Adam was down in the shop working on something at his bench, so I let him take a few pictures for me. I really didn’t want to use my camera in the spray booth, it gets really foggy…
Applying the second coat
Nice smooth finish
The second coat goes on very nicely. Look how smooth and shiny it is (Ignoring the odd brad nail hole, of course. They will be under a 1,000 pound statue, so I didn’t bother to fill them…).
Second coat finished
With the second coat applied, I buttoned up the spray booth to let the finish cure for another day. I will probably be adding a third coat tomorrow, then I get to clean up all of my spray equipment (my least favorite part).
Midnight Woodworking 