wet sanding

[luckyscroller788]

I haven't turned an acrylic pen in probably 6 years (hell, I haven't turned many wood ones either in the last few years), but am ready to dive right back in. I have read quite a few threads on here, both on wet sanding and a bazillion other topics.
Back when I was turning acrylic pens in the past, I always wet sanded, using mineral spirits as my liquid instead of water. To me, water just seemed like it would create more problems in my damp basement work area, even though I always liberally coat my tools with Johnsons paste wax. I never had a problem using MS as my liquid. Is there any harm using that on any of the available acrylics? I liked the results with it.
And yes, when I say acrylics, I am referring to any of the various man made materials used in pen blanks.

 

[Curly]

Personally I keep all solvents off plastics. As an aircraft mechanic we found they caused the acrylic windows (plexiglass) to craze, fine network of cracks. I also found when drilling an acrylic rod for a kitless pen that WD40 caused the inside to craze so don't use it for that either. Now other plastic pen blanks may or may not react to the solvents at all, but I'd rather not chance it. A few drops of dish soap in water works well and isn't bad to breath and does't harm the skin. There were a number of good ways to protect the lathe from water during wet sanding in a recent thread started by Kbs Pensnmore.

 

[jaywood1207]

I stopped wet sanding years ago. I use 320 then 400 then onto some foam sanding pads I have and then polish. I get the same results I did when using wet micromesh and it is a lot less messy.

This is similar to the foam sanding pads I use.
Norton ProSand Contour Sanding Pads - Lee Valley Tools

 

[Ted iin Michigan]

Personally I wet sand with water. I keep a separate water bath for each grit and I change out water baths fairly often. So I'm thinking it wouldn't work for me. But I can't think of any reason to not use MS if you want to.

 

[MTViper]

I gave up wet sanding several years ago because for me, I couldn't see a difference between wet and dry sanding with MM. I turn under a 500 watt halogen work light so any scratch shows up. Choose a method that works best for you and your customers.

 

[jttheclockman]

I can not see how wet sanding with water can be such a mess. Lay a paper towel down on the lathe and dip the MM pads in a little container of water. I do it all the time weather acrylics or CA. Works great for me and I do not use any microscopes for finishes. If I can not see scratches with my naked eye is good enough for me. If a guy pulls out a loop I tell him my pens are not for you Thanks for looking. By the way never have that happen.

 

[farmer]

I don't wet sand , Main reason is I don't need to , but I don't use Micro mesh ether.
I do use polishing creams on finishes , and if I screwed around with acrylics I would use polishing creams and a commercial buffing wheel .

I have wet sanded the finish on pool cues , polishing creams work better IMO .

Some of this stuff there is several ways of doing the same thing and its what ever works best for you ...

 

[OZturner]

For what it's worth, I do not Wet Sand Acrylics.
I use Abranet from 120 to 400 grit, then I use Dry Micro Mesh, every one to 12000.
Then I give it a very slight touch of Renaissance Wax, and Buff with a Cotton Pad.
I am extremely satisfied with the Finish I achieve.
Brian.

 

[jttheclockman]

I might add that I found if you dry sand the MM wears faster especially the very fine grits because it burnishes it faster than cutting. This is my findings and others mileage may vary. Water will add a lubricant which makes the MM last longer in my opinion.

 

[Ted iin Michigan]

One other thing to add: wet sanding will significantly reduce the amount of airborne dust. That's important to me as I have managed to develop a rather annoying allergy to CA dust. Good CA application technique leaves a smoother surface that may not need sanding by coarser grits (220 or 400). Then wet sanding reduces the need for me to wear my respirator.

 

[Brian G]

I'm more of a damp sander than wet sander. I use a small squirt bottle and dribble just enough on the MM pad to wet the blank I'm sanding. I put a piece of plastic and a thick bath towel on the lathe bed to soak up the drips.

I use water with MM pads. I tried mineral spirits with MM once on a wood blank that I wanted sanded extra fine. Bad move; the mineral spirits dissolved the adhesive that kept the MM adhered to the foam.

 

[Edgar]

I'm a damp MM sander also, but I use strips of MM sheets rather than the pads - cheaper & last longer. I rinse the strips in a container of fresh water to clean them from the previous use then lay them out in order by grit on a folded paper towel. That lets them dry just enough so very little water drips off while I'm sanding. Another folded towel on my lathe bed keeps my lathe nice & dry.