Finishing wood handle questions

Bfusmc03117

Bfusmc03117

Joined
Dec 29, 2008
Messages
697
Hello all,

First and foremost I hope everyone had a great holiday and happy new year to all of you as well!

Now down to business. In making a handle for this ulu knife for a buddy I used some walnut I had laying around and a small piece of pine for a spacer. I sanded the wood to 220 grit dry hand sanded. Once I had a uniform sand I applied my first coat of Minwax clear gloss quick dry polyurethane. After it dried I sanded it with red scotch brite applied another coat. Did that 3 more times. Then I used 1000 grit and applied more poly. 1500 grit more poly, and lastly I did 2000 grit with the last coat of poly.

Now my question is after the last coat I don't have a super smooth finish like I would like. Can I use a buffer with some beeswax ontop of the poly? Or what would be the best way to make the final pass and smooth it all nice nice and polish it?

This wood was also not stabilized like I said it was just wood I had laying around.

Looking for some help with wood finishes. Let me know what you guys think here's a few pictures. Thanks again for all the help and pointers.

Semper Fi
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From the pictures it looks to me that the grain is not filled enough with the Polly. It is hard to tell. How are you applying it. Might try a few more top coats then hand rub with wax and wool.
 
Looks like the poly did not go on smoothly, I would sand with 1000 until it looks really smooth (your should see shiny pockets that you need to sand down to), then light sand with 1500, then very light with 2000. Put a coat of your wax and buff by hand. if that is not shiny enough for you then use the buffer. Very lightly it will melt the poly.
 
buckaroo2219 said:
From the pictures it looks to me that the grain is not filled enough with the Polly. It is hard to tell. How are you applying it. Might try a few more top coats then hand rub with wax and wool.
Click to expand...

I applied it with a foam brush. Is there a better way to apply it? I sanded with 1000 again pretty rough did another coat and again with 1500 and lightly with 2000 it looks a lot better but still looking for that popping shine. If I apply beeswax can I hand buff it or is it better to use a buffer?
 
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