Finishing G-11 Garolite

P

PaMtnBkr

Joined
Dec 31, 2009
Messages
393
I have a handle that I am in process of finishing that is made of a Jade Green G-11 Garolite. My question is, at lower grits, it sands nice and clean but now that I am up in the higher grits (1000) it seems as if it picks up the color of the sandpaper and gets a bit darker? Any ideas of how to keep it nice and clean? Maybe sand it underwater? And in case you are wondering, I do use a respirator mask while working w/this material since it is a epoxy based phenolic. Thanks, Don
 
I've found that G-10 and G-11 will typically lighten as I sand them at rough grits. As you increase the grit, less light is scattered from the surface of the material and the color seems to deepen a bit. I always treat my sanded G-10/11 with a short bath in mineral oil after sanding. This has the advantage of highlighting any previously-missed blemishes, which can then be sanded out.

TedP
 
phillipsted said:
I've found that G-10 and G-11 will typically lighten as I sand them at rough grits. As you increase the grit, less light is scattered from the surface of the material and the color seems to deepen a bit. I always treat my sanded G-10/11 with a short bath in mineral oil after sanding. This has the advantage of highlighting any previously-missed blemishes, which can then be sanded out.

TedP
Click to expand...

One of the stickies said to use dawn dish soap and clean the scale, then spray it with WD-40, then use dish soap again to clean and check for blemishes once you are done sanding a piece.
 
Sanding wet with very-watered-down dish soap has worked for me on "ivory" paper micarta. I believe the idea is just to keep the bits of silicon carbide (and metal if you're sanding across bolts like I was) suspended.
 
Thanks James, That makes a lot of sense to me because I am sanding across brass as well as the G-11. Thank you!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top