Lacquer Removal question

[emsmith]

I have been using only Hut Crystal Coat as a finish on my pens. After reading about lacquer I decided to try it and purchased a can of Deft high gloss spray. I applied it to the blank, with the blank spinning at the medium speed on my Jet Mini. First coat went on smooth. Applied the second coat and got serious orange peel effects. How do I remove the lacquer? I originally let the lacquer cure overnight and tried to smooth it out with 1000 grit wet/dry sand paper at medium speed, planning to add more coats to build up the finish. The sand paper loaded up and didn’t seem to be removing much material, so I went to progressively coarser grit until I ended up at 220. Which removed the finish, except for these rings of gummy finish, which I removed by sanding along the length of the blank. I start trying to work my way back up through the sanding grits and the rings reappear. I’m using fresh sandpaper and the blank appears to be clean of the lacquer. If it matters the blank is a stabilized brown box elder burl. What am I doing wrong/missing? I don't think it should be this difficult to remove the lacquer. I'm trying to keep the sand paper from both from laoding up and getting warm so I don't think it is a heat problem, but I have no experience using lacquer. All help/suggestions is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Eric

 

[KKingery]

Eric, there could be a hundred different reasons for what's happening with the blanks. When you re-sand, are you sanding over onto the bushings? That can have a drmatic affect and cause the black marks to appear on the blanks. Do you wipe down the blanks between each grit of sandpaper with a paper towel? - I've had the same orange peel happen to me, and found it best to re-sand, rather than using a chemical, etc...but it also depends on how close to size you are for the bushings - you don't want to sand down past them and make your barrels undersized.

 

[emsmith]

Ken, I'm staying away from the bushings and unfortunately I am right at the final diameter. I have been wiping the blanks between each grit. It may be best to write this blank off as an experiment and try again with some scrap pieces until I get the technique down. Did not have the orange peel problem on some larger pieces that I sprayed at the same time. Do you think I should not have applied the finish with the blanks spinning?

 

[Mac In Oak Ridge]

Have you put lacquer thinner on a rag and just wiped the lacquer off? It is a solvent based product.

 

[KKingery]

I've done it both ways - spinning at low speed, and just spinning by hand. I honestly think spinning by hand is the best way, but that's just me. I've just recently started using the Deft spray, and have had good results with it. I spray very light coats, approx every 15 minutes, until I reach 4 coats. After it dries to the touch, I burnish it with a small piece of old sock with the lathe running - that seems to work best for me.