Finishing the desktop I've mentioned elsewhere. I'm using very pedestrian s= tuff: MinWax Poly.=20
I made a test piece using the three types of wood that make up the desktop.= For the test piece, I sanded to 220, wiped with mineral spirits, and appli= ed Semi Gloss poly. I then put on two coats of Satin Poly, lightly machine = sanding with 220 in-between. I liked the results, except for some run marks= that probably resulted from too thick a coat plus hanging the test piece v= ertically.=20
Why two different glosses? A friend of mine did something similar on some f= looring with good results, plus I had some semi laying around. I don't know= if using semi for the first coat had any practical effect, but I decided i= t couldn't hurt. =20
I've now got two coats on the actual project. Not content to leave well eno= ugh alone, I varied the procedure just a little bit. I again sanded to 220 = and applied semi gloss first. That was Saturday. I had a (music) gig Sunday= afternoon, so I got up early to see if I could get in another coat. Our ho= use is attached, and thought the power tools at 7:30 in the morning might n= ot be appreciated next door, so I decided to try hand-sanding at least the = edges.=20
I used 400 grit, which I had never tried before. As the edges are rounded, = I used it without a block, just with fingers. It gave the edges (oak) a l= ovely smooth feel. I decided to do the whole surface with the 400, using a = block for the large area. I then applied another coat of satin.=20
I took a look at the result after my gig. It's coming along. I decided not = to take on putting on another coat tonight, but I couldn't resist sanding i= t a tad, to see what the feel would be like.=20
So here we're coming to the question, finally. I again used a small piece o= f sandpaper in my fingers for the edges, but decided to try 600 grit. I fig= ured if it didn't adequately knock down the small amount of roughness that = remained, I could go beck to the 400.=20
I was surprised by the result. It smoothed the surface nicely, but didn't a= ppreciably dull it. It looks and feels quite nice, even though I plan to ad= d at least one more (and likely another) coat.=20
I used the same 600 grit on the large surface area, using a block with a pi= ece of scotch-brite in-between the block and the paper to "soften" the bloc= k. I don't know if this made any sense at all, but it didn't seem to hurt a= nything. This surface did not start out as smooth as the oak border, and th= e sanding did give it the slightest "white" cast (dust) when viewed at the = right angle against the light. =20
I'm wondering if using the 600 paper is likely to bite me in the ass in any= way later. Does the next coat of poly need more roughness to adhere? Am I = giving up the chance to more thoroughly smooth the main area?