help me lacquer some wood!

If I follow you, the sanding isn't to get the coat that you just put on off.  It is to create a rough surface for the next coat to adhere to.  We call it a scratch sanding.  Use a fine grit paper and just lightly sand it.  Then use a tack cloth to get the dust off.

Too, lacquer, if it is true lacquer, isn't the easiest stuff to work with.  There are polys out there that will give you the same result with a less perfect technique.  I've had good luck with min-wax.

 

You want to go lightly, at any rate.  A thin coat, keeping your edge wet, then let it dry, scratch sand, and another thin coat.

 

There's a bunch of good tutorials out on the web.

If you have scratches going across the grain, it sounds like you need to sand it with the grain a bit more to get those sanding marks out. I think that those are sanding marks that filled up with stain. Once you get the marks out, stain again and try another coat of finish.

Also, don't sand off the lacquer you put on. Sanding is supposed to be very light to remove any uneven spots and prep it to accept the next layer.

I think the lines of darker color are the grain of the wood. That's natural. If you want, you can use a filler to fill them in. You can also build up layers of finish in the grain and sand until you get the surface completely flat.

And from the photo I see, it looks like you sanded off most of the lacquer except for a few spots. When sanding between coats, you just want to knock down the high points and leave as much lacquer behind as possible. That's how you build up layers.

I don't know about spray lacquer. You can end up with orange peel and other problems that need tending to. If you want to try something different, pick up a can of tung oil. You wipe it on with a rag and it is self-leveling. Even if it's a little uneven, it'll sink into the wood and make it look even all over. It's much easier to deal with and you'll get good results.

Yes, I'd remove the lacquer before applying tung oil. Tung oil will darken over time, but that's more along the lines of decades, not years. I've got a few things I refinished with tung oil 15 years ago that are not appreciably darker. Also, the color of your wood will change over time, too.

As far as I can tell from the picture, you aren't sanding evenly.  The darker spots look like areas where the stain is too thick.  Might want to get a higher grit paper and go to town on it.

 

If it was me, I would put a few coats of that on, and then a coat of polyurethane.  Much easier to work with, and would smooth everything out while still leaving the grain visible.

 

Just my .02.

Here's an alternative to tung oil: a hand-rubbed linseed finish. It gives a deep, soft-looking gloss that gets better and better with age. It is very easy to do and almost impossible to screw up, although it does take some time. Yes, you can seal the grain with a paste wood filler beforehand if you want a glass-smooth finish, rather than the textured look of an open grain.

 

Here's how: take a tiny bit, really a few drops, of boiled linseed oil in the palm of your hand and start rubbing with the grain. It helps to cut the first coat with mineral spirits, by maybe a third, and after that full-strength. The heat generated by the rubbing with your hand is what makes it penetrate the wood. How many coats? The tradition is, "Daily for a week, weekly for a month, monthly for a year, and yearly for the rest of your life". The pic here has probably 7 or 8 coats - yeah, I'm lazy. One advantage of both linseed and tung oil is that, should you scratch the thing, another coat takes the scratches out.

 

WW

 

Edited by Bill Way - 9/17/10 at 11:20pm

Bill, X2 on the linseed oil. I use it, too, but like you said, there's a little more work involved.

Also, you can cut the linseed oil with tung and/or poly. The great Sam Maloof used to use a similar recipe.

Man, that's turning out nice. If time is an issue, then tung oil is probably a good way to go. Quick and easy, and gives the wood a little protection. That wood is pretty as it is, but raw wood stains so easily, even just by handling it, I generally like the idea of something on it. For ultra-fine sanding, use pumice stone powder, preferably with a felt pad. You dampen the powder, and the moisture raises the grain, so after sanding it's super-smooth. You can also get very fine sandpaper that works wet, which does about the same thing.

 

If you end up brushing on some finish, remember to finish your brush-strokes from dry to wet - if you start a brush stroke where it's already wet, it will leave a brush mark.

 

The turntable plinth is walnut. Jim Campbell made it for me - you can find him over on the asylum - he does good work.

 

WW 

Edited by Bill Way - 9/18/10 at 1:15am

thats walnut also

 

this is 1500-2000 grit go for it if you have the time. 320-1k grit is pretty boring by hand.

 

if you want gloss you need to use some filler on it also.

Edited by momomo6789 - 9/18/10 at 12:52am