Hi Terry - First, I am glad to hear you have solved your lighting problems. This is hard enough to do under good conditions, much less when you can't see what you're doing! Regarding rubbing out, first, a comment my mentor liked to use: "rubbing out a finish is a LOT like work; in fact, it's hard to tell the difference sometimes!" That being said.... I like to wait at least a week before rubbing out a finish. Longer is better; shorter can be done. The more ANY finish has cured, the better it rubs out, and Oxford's PSL is no exception. Ideally, we would all wait a month, but of course that is not at all practical. If your spray schedule was sensible, a week wait before rubbing out should be fine. If you piled on 3-4 very heavy coats on top of each other in one day in less than ideal conditions, in one week you COULD still have a finish not cured enough to rub well. I will describe my process for rubbing to satin/semi-gloss.... After curing, I generally use a flat sanding block wrapped with 400, then 600 on the more important pieces. By this I mean the pieces that are seen and touched the most. You can use the silicon carbide wet or dry paper and a lubricant - i.e. water and wol wax- or you can use the new 3M 216U Gold paper dry. If using a lubricant, you must frequently wipe it dry to check your progress. WATCH YOUR PRESSURE ON THE EDGES! And sand in straight lines with the grain... Once you are level, with a uniform sheen, I move to 0000 wool and the water/wolwax lube. I use the lubricant by dipping the wool into it, and also have a spray bottle to spritz it on where I need more as I am working. The wool can be used in the bare hand, or rolled out onto a sanding pad to assist in obtaining the LONG STRAIGHT STROKES you want. I have been using a large (4x9?) drywall sanding block with good results. When removing the 'slurry' to see if your sheen is uniform, a rubber squeegee is a valuable tool to quickly remove the majority of it. Towel dry the rest. If your sheen is uniform, you are done, if not, re-wet and repeat. (In place of wol wax, there is also 'wool lube', and Murphy's Oil soap. All of these work great. I'm sure there are others, as well.) I have been experimenting with the new "abralon pads" on my random orbit sander to do the leveling, with good results so far. The pads have some kind of micro-mesh abrasive attached to a foam pad that velcros onto the R/O base. The grits are 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 (I think). It seems like it may be a good alternative to hand sanding. They are re-usable many times, it would seem, by simply rinsing out the slurry after using each time. They leave the surface VERY uniform. I went up to 2000, then to the steel wool. I think Jeff Jewitt is using them on bare wood in the latest edition of Fine Woodworking. I am not RECOMMENDING you use this method yet, but it looks promising, especially for the big lid. That's an aerobic exercise to rub out by hand! I should also mention that I have used the gray scotchbrite in place of the 0000 wool for a slightly lower sheen. It is more like 00 or 000, I would guess, and works extremely well. It works particularly well clipped onto the drywall sander, but must be purchased in rolls so that this can be accomplished. I'm sure I've left plenty out, so let me know if I can be of any further assistance. Mark Potter bases-loaded@juno.com On Sun, 14 Jan 2001 20:36:03 -0500 "Farrell" <mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com> writes: > Hello Mark Potter, or anyone else that uses the Oxford Premium Spray > Lacquer. How long after the last coat do you wait to sand and then > rub out. > What sanding/rubbing/polishing schedule do you follow after all > spraying is > complete. I just finished putting my final coats on a number of test > panels > today and all appears real nice. I'm anxious to rub it out. Left > unguided, I > will wait until next weekend. Figure one week? > > I made a rolling 5' tall vertical stand with several flood lights > and a > couple fluorescent fixtures with full spectrum bulbs. Now I can see > what I > am spraying!!! On my previous attempts I felt like I was spraying > blind. I > was. Not now! Good lighting perpendicular to my spray surface seems > to have > made all the difference. Rubbing out will tell me for sure! > > Terry Farrell > Piano Tuning & Service > Tampa, Florida > mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com >
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