Sanding between coats of poly

I'm finishing a rather large slab and just put on the first coat of semi-gloss poly. Minwax says to lightly sand with 320 between first and second coat. Can I use my ROS for this or do I need to find my sanding block?

Larry

Reply to
Gramps' shop
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You can use your ROS, but you might find it gums up the paper rather fast if it's not been curing for a week or more.

I would use wet dry 320 with a drop of dish detergent, which keeps the paper from loading up.

Mind you I don't do poly very often.. (RARE), but that has been my experience. I use a block with a cork , you can also use felt rather than cork.

The wet dry will give you quicker cut, less loading, a finer scratch pattern, and a lube to make it easier. My results were much better. Also you control sand through much easier, but with poly the build is pretty thick and unlikely to sand through except on a sharp corner.

Reply to
woodchucker

Also note that there are two reasons for sanding...

  1. To smooth and remove imperfections, dust nibs, etc. Unless it is a real mess and IME, no need to do so until just before the last coat, if then.
  2. To roughen slightly giving the new coat something to grab onto. No need for that if you apply additional coats within 4-8 hours, the time may vary with different brands. I regularly apply four coats - sans sanding - in a day.
Reply to
dadiOH

I would not use any power sander. You are only trying to scratch the surface and remove dust nibs. A single, maybe two swipes, is all you need.

Reply to
Leon

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