Well being Christmas and all seems like it would be a good time to share......... some stuff.
For the last year few years I have been using 3M No Load Sandpaper for sanding finishes in between coats. It is by far the best (that I have found) for this task. I do a bit of cabinet work and generally finish with nitro. lots of flat sanding. I find a 1/4 sheet piece would last about 3 - 4 times longer than any other type of finishing sandpaper I have used. In this case, usually 220. Not only does it last longer but if you do get a little build up of the finish you can give it a quick brush off with your hand. You don't need to use a blade or such. I find scraping finish off paper with a blade dulls the paper much more quickly. On the last couple of guitars, (nitro finish), I use this sandpaper, usually 400 grit, for all sanding in between coats to get to your final coats with 3 or 4 weeks to kick off. After its had its time to kick, to level, I have been using 600 to level the final finish, dry. The big benefit of levelling dry is you can see whats going on. All you do is sand till any shiny spots are gone and it's really easy to see when you're there. It is a little quicker than wet sand levelling but the nice thing is it's very easy to see when you are level so your chances of over sanding, sanding through are greatly diminished. It makes the whole process go a fair bit quicker. A quick rub with 1000, 1500 and 2000 wet after that and your off to the buffer.This http://www.leevalley.com/en/Wood/page.a ... at=1,42500 is the product and if you live in Canada, Crappy Tire also sell it packaged. I have never seen it in anything finer than 400 grit in my part of the world.
If you haven't tried this paper it will make your life easier and you will use far less paper. 1/4 sheet will level a guitar.
Cheers, Happy Heineken, and all the best for the New Years.
Danny
