MM vs. anything else

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All depends upon what you are working with. On acrylic, usually start wet sanding and polishing with micromesh. There have been times need 320 grit sand paper, to remove tool marks and scratches before going to micromesh. Have never used micromesh on bare wood but do use it after finish is applied.

Sand paper grit depends upon whether wood is open or close grain and if dealing with an oily wood. Also what finish going to apply. You can sand wood too smooth and finish has nothing to cling too! Some finishing materials require nothing more than 180, 280, or 320 grit sandpaper. Finish and sanding sealer may require 320 or 400 grit between coats. Finishing the finish may require 600+ grit or 0000 steel wool.
 
Wildman said:
You can sand wood too smooth and finish has nothing to cling too! Some finishing materials require nothing more than 180, 280, or 320 grit sandpaper.
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True, but CA is not a finish, it is a glue that soaks into the wood.

I sand my wood to 12000MM and then apply medium CA. The extra fine sanding causes the grain to "pop" much like using BLO, but without the colour shift.
Back to the original question; if you want to pop the grain with CA or get a glass like high-gloss look, it is hard to beat micromesh. Some people sand to a lower grit and then buff, but I find the surface is smoother when you sand thru all the MM grits before buffing.
 
Did not see a question about using CA as a finish or popping the grain.

Yes, can use CA glue as a finish on either open or closed grain wood. Examples would be Oak open grain wood and Gum, close grain wood. How you cut a board can also change grain. Look what happens when pen blank cut on diagonal.

Wood finish manufacturers give guidelines for sanding wood before application and between additional coats. Some do and some do not provide instructions for finishing the finish.

Bottom line both sand paper and micromesh have their place in finishing process how you choose to use them entirely up to you.
 
For what it is worh! I turned a nice fingered Chestnet, wet sanded it with regular sand paper to 600 grit, then wet sanded it with NEW MM and got bleeding of the dye on the MM from the darker purple and black on to the Chestnut, then finished it with two BLO/CA treatments. I got the BEST looking colored Chestnut you can imagine. I did this to two different pieces of Chestnut with the same results. Since then I have only used wet MM on CA and not on bare wood.
 
I have a co-worker that turns pens he gave me a live demo one day. His finish was incredible he used sandpaper on the wood then MM on the CA coats after several were applied... his pen was beautiful compared to the pen I made with just a few coat of CA and simple sanding paper up to 1500 on the final coat of CA. Next day I placed my order for MM :)
 
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