Satin Finish Help

childzplay

childzplay

Joined
Jun 13, 2006
Messages
202
I'm going 220, 360, 500, then maybe 800 or 1000. I'm having a difficult time knowing when to move from one grit to another. I go through my grits, then buff. After the buff I'm finding, not tons, but enough scratches still left from say the 220 and 360.

After that I'm going through the grits again. Or, I'm spending too much time with a finer grit and should have been using the previous.

Is this something that just comes with experience? Any tips you guys can offer?

Also, can you get a perfect satin finish without lines when you hand rub?

Thanks as always for your help.
 
I haven't tried it but I read on another forum if you get a quart of Mobil 1 oil and put it on the side of the blade your sanding you can get away with just doing a 220 grit and it looks pretty good. But you can go higher if you like.
 
Your problem is not removing previous scratches as you noticed. The trick is to sand at an angle to the previous scratches. For example if you go parallel to the spine with 220, with finer grit (360 for you) about 30 degree to the 220 lines. That way you'll see if any 220 scratch left there. When you are sure there is no parallel line present and only angled 360 grit lines there don't go any finer, take the blade and look with a magnifier, different angle lights and different sources of lights. Note: The fluorescent light and regular tungsten light mix really shows all the details.
Also it will take a while, don't loose your patience. After each grit clean the work place, wash your hands etc. to eliminate the contamination of coarse grits left. You reach to 1000 by changing 3 grit sizes from 220, but you can reduce the effort by sanding with 400 after 220 and then 800 then 1000...

Emre
 
Emre is spot on with switching angles with each grit so you can see when the scratches are gone. +1 for looking at different angles also. Another thing that can help you is use the sandpaper like it's free. The 220 through 600 may last a few strokes but 1000 might last two strokes. That's it. Anything past that and the grit is wiped off and you are wasting energy. fresh sandpaper cuts a whole lot better and faster than trying to make a piece last. I can go through a whole sheet of 1000 in less than two minutes if my strips are precut. Sometimes I use simple green for a lubricant sometimes I hit it dry. Depends on how fishy I am feelin. When you use lube the sandpaper cuts a hair softer. Some folks hit it dry up to maybe 400 or so then get it wet.

When you get to your final grit then you need to really watch your form and only drag in one direction (the whole length of the blade, every time), DO NOT scrub. You will get fish hooks that you will NEVER get to go away if you continue to scrub. When you get your form down with your final grit you will not even need to use the buffer at all.
 
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The Mobil 1 oil is the only way to go. Put a few drops on the blade area and go at with the sand paer and sanding block you would normally use. Just strock the area back and foth. It works super with no fish hooks or bad paterns. If you like to start with say 220 grit do that and immediately see the difference. Frank
 
Frank Niro said:
The Mobil 1 oil is the only way to go. Put a few drops on the blade area and go at with the sand paer and sanding block you would normally use. Just strock the area back and foth. It works super with no fish hooks or bad paterns. If you like to start with say 220 grit do that and immediately see the difference. Frank
Click to expand...

Frank, thanks a lot. I'll try Mobil 1 but have a problem. Will any Mobil 1 product do the the trick, which one you are using? There are different kinds like: "new life", "extended life", "peak life" "super"... And there are tons of different i.e. "Super series" 5W40, 10 W49, 5W30 etc...
Emre
 
in the other forum it says Mobil 1 should be used but any viscosity. It also suggested honing oil although it may dry up faster. I will also give this a try very soon.
 
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