Proper Water Sanding techniques

There are three techniques, wet sanding, grain raising, and grain filling.

Wet sanding is for sanding hard surfaces that result in a fine powder (i.e. film finishes, metals); the water helps clean the sandpaper and wash away the powder so that the sanding can proceed without clogging up. For this technique, you'd want the item wet while sanding, either by rinsing it, running water over it, or rinsing the paper occasionally. You need a waterproof sandpaper for this, I usually use sillcon carbide wet/dry sandpaper.

Grain raising is different. If you have unfinished wood, what you do is rinse the wood and let it dry, then sand off the raised grain. Repeat with finer and finer grits as usual. The result is that you have a piece that, if it happens to get wet (washing or water-based finishes), won't get that fuzzy feel. In this case, any sandpaper will do, and you'd use compressed air or a tack cloth to remove the powder.

The third case is grain filling, or wet sanding with a finish. This is for grain filling, such as a french polish. What you do here is use a wet/dry paper with an oil (instead of water), so that as you sand the powder gets trapped in the grain with the oil, and dries that way, filling the grain.

========================= Keith, Your best source for this will probably be an auto paint supply store or big box store that sells auto painting supplies. You will need at leqst wet/dry paper (silicone carbide) 600 grit, with better results obtained by going to

1000 grit. If you know any painit and body workers, stop by and watch them work the final coats of their paint jobs, especially if they're doing clear coat finish. That will be very similar to what you'll want to do. Good luck.

Ken Moon Webberville, TX.

Thanks All

Keith Newfoundland