Any tips or tricks for sanding/buffing/polishing the final varnish coat on a cedar stripper? I've got 5 coats on and I think this will be my last. How do you get rid of the dust nibs, etc?

Thanks

quote Cloznuff: "Any tips or tricks for sanding/buffing/polishing the final varnish coat on a cedar stripper? I've got 5 coats on and I think this will be my last. How do you get rid of the dust nibs, etc?

Thanks"

Are you asking how to get rid of the dust nibs before putting on the last coat or how to avoid them in the last coat?

The answer to the first would be sandpaper and the answer to the second is cleanliness. Clean the shop and let the dust settle for a couple days. Then clean the hull to perfection, apply varnish, and don't come back into the shop until the varnish is hard.

Personally I don't get that worked up about it. I make sure the hull is completely clean of dust, brush on the varnish, and then leave and try to stay out as much as possible until the varnish is hard. For sure don't do anything that will raise dust. I'm not interested in attaining perfection as it will soon have nicks and scratches from use.

Alan

Thanks Alan. I am wondering more about AFTER the last coat is put on how you deal with dust nubs and minor imperfections. This is my first whack at a stripper (Hmmmmm...that didn't sound right) so I wanted it to be pretty for a day to take some pictures, and then beat it up. I am tempted, like you said, to leave it as is because unless you are closer than 6ft away, it looks quite nice. Just wondering how the pros do it ;-)

I usually use a satin finish on the exterior because I like it better than glossy and it seems to hide imperfections better. So sometimes I'll wet sand with 1500 grit after the final coat. This will leave you with an annoying white film that must be removed with multiple wipe downs but afterwards the finish will feel incredibly smooth.

If you want to stick with the glossy look you could start with 1500 grit sandpaper to smooth it out a little and then start bringing back the gloss with buffing compounds.

of course the easiest method, if you have the skill, is to put down a flawless coat of varnish in the first place in a dust free environment.

As with everything when it comes to building strippers there are many methods that will work. You just need to determine how much time and effort you're willing to put in for the given result.

Alan

Dust nibs are usually felt rather than seen as a glaring imperfection. Try the brown paper bag trick. It worked for me.

Brown paper bag trick

So...the brown paper bag trip works well to make strippers look better eh? Sorry...I had to!