Micro-Mesh

[jking]

I have a question for those who use Micro-Mesh. I've seen recommendations to wet sand. What do you use for lubrication? I tried with water & ended up with a bunch of odd colored slurry filling the pores on the wood. I had trouble getting the blank cleaned up afterward. If it had been the color of the wood, it would have been fine. This slurry didn't match the wood at all.

Does water cause the sand grit to come off of the backing? If so, why wet sand?

John

[leehljp]

A few people wet sand with MM on pens, but most don't. I have no idea on how MM is used on guitars and other fine crafted items like that.

On pens, dry sanding is normal. With the lathe turning, MM is used lightly for a few seconds and then the next level up is used. On a few woods, denatured alcohol is often used to clean the dust off of the wood - in between each level of MM. But again, most people do not do this unless the dust is noticably different in color as it fills the pores.

The choice for wet sanding vs dry sanding is usually based on the individual woods and individual preferences. Not all woods are conducive to wet sanding and it seems that is where you are now.

Wet sanding raises the grain for sure. But at the point of using MM, in my opinion, I am past the stage that the wood needs wet sanding to raise the grain. I usually put a coat of CA or other finish and let it dry. Then dry sand. Popping the grain with wet sanding is not really needed at this point - at least for me.

[Tom Miller]

I was under the impression that wet sanding was only done after a finish has been applied. No? I've never heard of wet sanding on bare wood, other than sanding while applying the finish to make a pore-filling slurry out of the finish and the sawdust.

Regards,
Tom

[gerti]

IMHO using micro mesh on anything but a very dense hardwood with no pores is a waste of time.

[paintandbodtman]

[QUOTE=

Does water cause the sand grit to come off of the backing? If so, why wet sand?

John[/QUOTE]

are you useing sandpaper intended for wet sanding. Regular garnet type sandpaper will come apart with water.

[drumpriest]

I have been using MM dry sanding pens so far. I don't see a big advantage on some woods, but for others it's great. I wouldn't imagine wet sanding makes sense. Usually you wet sand during a rub out finish, but that would definately be after you've build up a large number of coats of finish.

[jking]

I may have misunderstood some of the previous posts I'd seen. I thought when wet sanding was mentioned, it was related to sanding the wood blank; maybe it was in discussing finishes.

The sales info on MM I've seen in catalogs & online recommend wet sanding to lengthen the life & prevent clogging. I hadn't seen a need for wet sanding with MM, I was just trying it to see if there was an advantage.

gerti,

Why do you consider MM to be a waste of time but for dense hardwoods? I've not had satisfactory results stopping at 400 grit regular paper.

[gerti]

gerti,

Why do you consider MM to be a waste of time but for dense hardwoods? I've not had satisfactory results stopping at 400 grit regular paper.

I better had said wood with larger pores. But I agree that 400 is not enough, unless one uses a finish that builds a lot. I usually go to 600 or 1000 grit (from the auto parts store).

Gerd

[hitekrednek]

My typical use of MM is after the initial coats of finish (usually CA) have been applied. The reason for using lubrication (wet sanding) with MM is twofold. One is to prevent heat buildup which will destroy MM pretty quickly. The second is that you can get a somewhat nicer finish at the higher grits. I always use mineral spirits for the lubricant as it in inert with CA and doesn't raise the grain of the wood if I sand through the finish. There are probably a hundred different techniques that work and almost everyone is convinced that theirs is the best. All things being equal, I would suggest trying several different methods and finding the one that works best for you.


It's possible that some of the discoloration that you are seeing is material sanded from the bushings being dragged back onto the wood.

[Jim Boyd]

I always dry sand first, then put my desired finish on, then wet sand. Always use the lowest speed with micro mesh. Higher speeds = heat = bad for micro mesh. I have a spray bottle of water with a tablespoon of liquid dish soap mixed in as a lube. I also use it to spray down figured woods before running thru a planer.

[tribalwind]

i dont have MM, but use mirka's abranet and abralon.
once you use these i think you'll be a convert,so excellent!
.MM might be even higher grit".
these go from 80 to 5,000
i start with 120, few seconds with each grit.no wet sanding needed.
120,180,220,240,320,400,500,1000,2000,4000,5000 and can see your reflection.for some things i'll then use EEE paste or the tripoli/white-diamond/carnuba steps. on lather or on the buffer/polisher

p.s. when wet sanding i'm usually doing it with tung oil or boiled linseed oil & wet sandpaper,and that will be the finish.