OK, 20 coats urethane, now what??

A

alinwa

oft dis'd member
I've got a gunstock shaped,filled and flattened to my liking. It has a lot of compound curves so it's a bugger to sand out.

I have wet-or-dry paper to 2000 grit and I've been wetsanding it.

I've sanded it out beaucoup times and it's ready to be done.

Finish coats with an airbrush are laying down nice BUT..... always the little boogers in the finish. Dust, phlegm, small rodents, whatever, and sometimes the tiniest hint of orange peel. I want it FLAT like a nice gunstock but still shiney.

I've taken a couple pix with the light on it trying to show the orange peel but it doesn't show a lot. So here's the deal.... I think I can spray it with no orange peel but I don't have a dust free room.

What can you suggest to cut off the dust mites and save the high polish? 0000 steel wool is 'wayy too coarse as is 2000 grit.


tx


al



ls rwb.jpgrs ewb butt.jpg
 
Al, there is no substitute for a paint room. When I had my 67 Chevelle done, the place that did it had a room that looked more like an operationg room than a paint booth.

To spray the clear, they used bottles of some type of inert gas, totally free of any moisture. The painter wore a space suite.

If I remember correctly, the initial body work and paint topped $25,000. And that was almost 18 years ago.

In short, if you want it perfect with no after sanding and polishing, you have to have a real, honest to goodness clean room.

By the way, that is one WILD paint job. And just curious, why Urethane rather than a good catylist clear coat?......jackie
 
Last edited:
Jackie,

They call this 'urethane' but it's two-part 4/1 super tough acrylic resin. I got it from the local hotrod painting shop. After almost a year of looking it's the clearest stuff I could find. Everything else I looked at had a brown tint. The stock is a hunk of Billie Shehanes R/W/B 'Obeche' touted to be American flag colors. It's laminated wood. It started out as a Big Dawg blank and then I went after it with knives.

Darren, that looks like exactly what I need because Jackie's right, nowadays it's all about a clean room. This stuff lays down like glass, except for the bugs.

al
 
Alinwa
No matter how good you lay on the clearcoat you will still need to rub it out to get the desired depth and smoothness.
On my truck I used 3 heavy coats of catalysed clear coat made by ppg called DCU 2042 low voc speed clear.I used a hvlp gun but upped the pressure at the gun from the recommended 35 pounds to almost 55 pounds.
I lay it on heavy and don't worry about an occasional run as they sand right out.On the tailgate were the chevrolet and bowtie are I was getting some fish eye.I upped the pressure to 60 pounds layed it on heavy and let it dry thoroughly.
Once dried I used the 3M scouring pads to get into all the nooks and crannies around the letters.It will turn your clear coat a dull white color until you rub it out.Once rubbed out I use mirror glaze diluted with water to get it as smooth as a fat babies butt.
They make the 3M pads in green,red,grey and white so you can sneak up on it if necessary.
Lynn
 
Al,
Yer recoil pads a little tacky. Might want to try to fit that a little closer! :D

I never did like clearcoated stocks. I had a few (did a few). I learned the best way to deal with it is take the brand new job, bang it on the doorjam on the way out, and now, you don't need to worry about that first ding in it. At which point, orangepeel, or dust, or rodents, won't bother you a bit.
 
Al,

Having to rub it out is kinda the price you pay for doing it yourself, without a paint booth.

Rubbing out a stock is really not that bad. It doesn't take long.

Aesthetically speaking, I much prefer the rubbed finish to the high gloss.

Jim
 
Well, I got it down to maybe twenty boogers. I'm'a leave it alone for now and polish it out down the road if need be.

She's stable! :)

Time to get some of the metal finished

al
 
Alinwa
The lightwaves bouncing/reflecting off of a very flat smooth surface is what produces the shine.If you don't rub it the shine will never be that good.No car has ever won the grand national roadster show coming outy of a great spray booth unrubbed.
If you want it smooth and you want it too look like its under a sheet of glass you have to rub it out.
3 heavy coats to me is walikng around the parts several times allowing flash off time inbetween coats until I think it won't hold anymore clear without running.
Lynn
 
Lynn,

I polished some test pieces with what I have, down to 2000 grit and McGuiars rubbing compound. I waxed one piece using a buffing paste wax. All three specimens look good but the unrubbed stock has the highest sheen. Of course the polished pieces look flatter, they just don't sparkle the same.

Where do I get the stuff you list for polishing? I really DO want to polish this out after it cures.....

al
 
Ok...... After several trips to my friendly neighborhood auto painting suppliers it's finally making some sense. Seems there are two systems out there, you'se guys are ALL right. (I was just getting cornfuzed)

One method, the one Lynn mentions first, uses a series of finer and finer grits whereas the other uses one bottle of cutting paste/fluid and a series of pads/mops/sponges. I'm going to try out the "swirl remover" style which uses the different pads to work down to shinier finish.


(BTW, I'm so out of date that the compound on my shelf is an old "breaks down with use, getting finer" type polish. I won't use it.

What did Vickie have to say???

al
 
The best way is to deal with the trash that you are seeing in the clear is to sand them flat.Sanding by hand will not work as well as using the sand paper on something that is flat.Usually on a stock I`ll use a piece of paint paddle (stir stick) and wrap the sand paper around it.Take some water with dish detergent and wet sand.When the paper gets worn out just tear that paddle with off and keep going.With this method you get the trash out or make it level with everything around it then you can buff to the shine you are looking for.If you are not careful sanding by hand you will just be sanding where your fingers are.And remember with the buffer stay away from the corners and sides or it will burn through.Good luck.
 
Al do you have any idea of exactly how much weight the paint and clear coat added to the stock?
 
jmwcj8 I completely agree re flat-sanding. I detest ripply finishes with rounded edges.

Vern I have no idea as this is a 50plus lb gun. Hads I thunkaliddleahead I'd have weighed it fore and aft.

But I din't

al
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top