Author Topic: First full wood call and sanding/finishing question  (Read 2153 times)

Offline Moonpiecalls

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First full wood call and sanding/finishing question
« on: November 19, 2014, 08:07:03 AM »
This was my first full wooden call (minus the gutsert) sorry its not the greatest picture.  It is Zebrawood finished with CA.  I am still learning and trying new things every week and once again will take all criticism as constructive (why I keep posting).  My one question is about sanding.  I sand to 1000 grit and finish with CA. When sanding wood, should you get to a point where there is basically no voids and its all completely smooth?  I found with the zebrawood that there were little tiny voids in it that would fill with dust.  Before I finished with ca I just tried to brush it all out then finish.  I found the CA covers them up like they werent even there and to me it looks good.  Is this normal or should there be no tiny voids after sanding and before finishing wood?  Basically wondering if I need to be sanding more.  Probably not really wording that the best but hopwfully someone knows what I mean haha.  Thanks!

 

Offline Henry H

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Re: First full wood call and sanding/finishing question
« Reply #1 on: November 19, 2014, 08:49:09 AM »
That is a pretty open grained wood, so you will never sand out those little voids.  I usually don't worry about seeing them even after fully finished because it is a characteristic of the wood and I like the natural look over a thick glossy look most of the time.  That said, when I want to achieve a thick glassy finish with none of those flaws, I do add a step before CA finish (many here do some variant of this).  Once I sand through 400 grit (including with the grain), and leaving the sanding dust on the call from that grit, I'll get a fresh piece of 400 grit and drizzle thin CA on the call while sanding, coovering the entire call.  This creates a bit if a CA slurry that begins to fill the voids.  I let that dry naturally (no accelerator), then sand dry with 600 spinning then with the grain.  Then, with a fresh piece of 600 I do another CA drizzle while sanding.  Once dry (again, no accelerent), I'll sand with a fresh piece of 600, both spinning and with the grain.  The end goal is little to no surface CA but all voids filled.  If I need to repeat a step to achieve that, I will.  Once achieved, I apply the CA finish as I normally would (multiple coats then wetsand with micromesh through 12000 then buff and polish).

Offline RedemptionCalls

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Re: First full wood call and sanding/finishing question
« Reply #2 on: November 20, 2014, 09:45:50 PM »
Tung oil is your friend in this situation. Sand the call to around 400 using just sandpaper, then sand up to around 1000 using tung oil on the sand paper. Then wipe the call clean with a paper towel and let it dry.

Then use a single layer of thin CA to fill some of the remaining voids. Then use Medium CA for 10 coats, wet sand and polish