Hi, Peter,
I have noticed professionally finished solid panels which appear to be “perfectly” flat when viewed with grazing light. My solid panels always have some surface variation, even though it requires grazing light to observe. I am presuming that these “perfect” surfaces are sanded. How do they achieve this flatness? (for the record, I plane the solid wood surface and then sand with an ROS using fine grits)
Thanks, Tom.
Peter, I visited a cabinet shop Thursday, and they showed me their process. First they level the panel with a drum or wide belt sander. The they sand with a reciprocating sander (linear motion) starting diagonally across grain and switching to with grain for each grit. They sand down to 400 grit before finishing. The finishing process is sprayed conversion lacquer. They don’t touch the surface after spraying. Is this process fairly typical based upon your experiences?
Thanks again, Tom.
Edited 8/25/2007 2:00 pm ET by Tom77
Replies
Hi Tom,
Nice to hear from you. Sorry it took a while. My turn around time for answers lately has been about a week.
From what the cabinet shop showed you I'm guessing they are not coloring with dyes or stains. Personally I wouldn't sand past 180 when doing a ground color.
The finish schedule you mentioned is what is called a "production finish" As long as they get the mixtures just right, they should flow out reasonably well. They don't touch the finish afterwards for a couple of reasons IMO.
First time is money and the less they have to touch it the better. Second, if they wait for the finish to cure , rub the surface down and make a mistake they have cost themselves time and money.
The "production finish" I'll do is to get the surface prepared, color as required (dyesglazes etc.) seal , sand and then lay a coat or two of lacquer or C. V.
I'll let this coat dry well for at least a day and they get it as smooth as I can. I'll use Abralon pads at this juncture. If my coat is pretty smooth, I'll use a 500 grit pad to rub it down. I'll use it on a RO sander with a light touch as they cut very quickly. I'll then use it by hand and go in a straight line. After a good cleaning, I'll lay on a flow coat of finish. That is one that is cut down a bit from the build coat.
I don't have to touch it after that unless some foreign matter hits it.
However to get a truly flat finish, at every juncture including sealer I sand the coats level. After the last coat goes on and cures at least a week, then I'll "finish the finish"
I'd probably start with 1000 grit abralon and go to 2000 grit. Depending on how high a sheen I'm looking for, I'll then move to various buffing compounds
It comes down to what the piece is. A piano finish needs to be absolutely flat as the light that moves across the surface can be very telling.
A formal mahogany table might be another one.
In a nut shell if you get the underlying finish as flat as possible the final coats flow very well. Remember, nothing is flawless though.
It took a while to get to you and now I'm rambling. Hope all is well.
Peter
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