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Military Firearm Restoration Corner

Wet Sanding


montea6b

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I'm not talking about sanding the finish in to fill the pores...

 

Yesterday I wiped one down with mineral spirits after a 100 grit session to get rid of sanding dust. It gets tough to tell by feel where it's still rough with the ball bearing effect of the dust. I noticed that it was far easier to tell where I needed to get back to smooth out the previous grit's scratches when the stock was damp and the dust was gone. I started sanding again and noticed that it also cut down on airborne sanding dust that really seems to get me sneezing.

 

Do any of you wet sand your stocks when smoothing them prior to finishing? If so, what do you use? Would water be less fumatacious than mineral spirits, or are there downsides to H2O?

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Monte,

 

I'm by no means an expert on this subject but have experienced the need to smooth out a later coat of finish.

 

I was recently experimenting with a stock by using clear Danish oil. After about 4 coats I went to Teak oil for about 4 coats then cut the teak oil with mineral spirits to make a slurry. I let this dry. Wasn't satisfied as the buildup was rough. Rather than scratch the finish and start over, I did wet sand with water. There was no apparent penetration of water into the stock, I say this based upon the beading up of the water, and I was able to get back to a smooth finish. I believe that the grit was 600. I then proceeded to the Tung oil rubbing in a drop at a time allowing friction to start the cure. I was and am very satisified with the finish and it's quite smooth. I will probably steel wool it in the near future and add another series of coats of the tung oil as it builds up quickly and has nice depth.

 

Hope that this helps a bit. I believe that sanding with water is most dependent upon how the stock was sealed, the depth of finish that you are at and the grit of paper that will be used.

 

As for keeping dust down, sanding with mineral spirits would probably be acceptable. I liked the H2O though.

 

 

lc

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