CA finish questions

[Scott-n-KY]

I have used Mylands cell. sand. sealer and Mylands fp. I have also tried CA a few times, usually a mess for me. I have been reading many post here on CA finishing, but I have a few questions, that I was not able to find good answers on here for.
1) do you still use sand. sealer 1st?
2) I was thinking about trying 2-3 coats of thin and 2 coats thicker CA, and a plastic polish. the question here is sanding, before any finish is applied, to what grit do you sand? and then when do you MM? after all is done or between which coats? (looking for high gloss)
3) my last question is, how long do you allow each coat to dry?

 

[ahoiberg]

hey scott.

1) i know some still use sanding sealer but i think most end up using a coat or two of thin CA as a sanding sealer. this is what i do and it works great. once you get a coat or two on, sand it smooth and go on to your med or thick.

2) if you're going to sand between coats, fine, but don't sand too much, maybe just knock down any ridges or swirls with 400 grit. as far as MM, i usually only use it after all the CA coats are applied, before using plastic polish. i usually only sand the actual blank to 400 before doing the CA finish. this is only a theory, but you'll fill in any little scratches or imperfections with each subsequent coat of CA, so the only one that really needs to be fine tuned is the last coat, in my experience. one thing i've found is you really have to be patient with letting the thicker CA coats cure. i know some people say they can start applying a second coat of med/thick after 30 seconds to a minute, but i usually let them dry for 20-30 minutes (my coats might be thicker, i don't know). and if it's being really stubborn, i'll spray some accelerator on it before moving on to the next coat. once you're done applying coats, then you can concentrate on sanding that last coat (starting with 320 if it's rough looking, 400 or even 1500 MM if it's nice and smoothly applied) before doing the plastic polish.

3) i guess i answered that in #2.

hope this helps.

 

[Ligget]

Personally I do not use sanding sealer, if the wood needs sealed a couple of coats of thin CA should do it.

I cut back between every coat of CA with 3200 micromesh or if it`s rough I`ll go to 2400 micromesh.