A Question for Paul about finish

[johnallg]

Cool. I guess I never thought of masking before stripping.

Tell that to the girls!

I was going to say it depends on whether he wants everyone to know who he is and what he's got....

[jingle_jangle]

It depends upon who is wearing the mask, whether it has eyeholes, etc...

[rickfan60]

What is the purpose of wet sanding on CV? On bare wood it raises the grain so it can be sanded flat. What does it do for CV? You, Dale, and others have suggested 50/50 Windex and water for wet sanding. What does the Windex do?

[ben_brown]

What is the purpose of wet sanding on CV? On bare wood it raises the grain so it can be sanded flat. What does it do for CV? You, Dale, and others have suggested 50/50 Windex and water for wet sanding. What does the Windex do?

I'm not a pro by any means but I think the "wet" sanding minimizes any scratching leaving a glossier surface and also minimizes any "sanded off" material to clog the paper and gouge the surface not to mention lubricating the process.
Please correct me if I'm wrong Oh Curmudgeon One....

When I used to work in a boatyard many years ago we used to "wet sand" the bottoms of dry-docked racing sailboats lengthwise from for to aft.
Sometimes we would even do this whilst it was raining. What some people spent their money on simply amazed me.

[jingle_jangle]

I'd never wet sand bare wood, no matter what project or wood. Sealer is better to raise grain because it hardens the fibers and doesn't introduce moisture into the system. Moisture is something we're trying to get out of the equation as much as possible, especially where urethanes are concerned, as they're hygroscopic and react with water to create CO2 microbubbles in the clearcoat, which are visible.

When you've got lots of layers of cured conversion varnish on a nice guitar surface, you've essentially covered the wood surface with a plastic one. So, you're wet sanding plastic. Windex acts as an anti-clog/lubricant. A major caveat is: don't sand through to the wood. This takes great care.