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I am ready to buff out my EM6000 finish. I wet sanded with Micro mesh 1800 (approx. 600 equivalent) then 2400 (approx. 800 equivantent) using mineral spirits, then I tried buffing with Stew Mac coarse compound and a foam attachment in my hand drill. There appears to be little pits in the finish. Can you see the pits?

Do I need to continue to wet sand? ...Go back to 1800 ...or 2400 ...keep buffing? I'm afraid I'll sand through...

Thanks,
Steve

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

Looks like you need to do a bit more sanding to me. When it's sanded but before it's buffed, when you hold it up to the light at an angle, it should look dead flat...

Orange peel is a common occurrence with EM6000 and it can take a fair bit of sanding to get it all out. Looks like more sanding is in order.

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Aaron Craig

Those won't go away on their own, so if you want a completely flat finish keep going...

You probably need to keep sanding.
You will probably sand through the finish . . . and get frustrated . . . and feel like your schedule has been set back by a month or more . . . and it sucks.
But from what I can tell, this is the way it goes when building guitars.
Good luck with the finishing, and with the patience.

That is definitely orange peel. You need to sand more.

The higher you sand, the less buffing you will have to do. I sand to at least 2000 grit. I wouldn't dare try to buff after 800.

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How many coats do you have on it? That would really determine if its thick enough to keep sanding , or wipe done with cleaner and spary some more .

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ELEVATE || Next Level Lutherie
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Orange peel will typically build up within several applications of EM6000. I usually apply 6-8 coats, then sand till surface looks flat to get rid of it. Then I get onto my finish schedule. For some odd reason I do not understand, the orange peel will not reappear after that. Maybe it's some kind of surface tension effect.

Mike

With a water based lacquers it's VERY unlikley....but get a magnifier and see if there are minute bubbles trapped under the surface. The suppliied photo looks like orange peel but if it's bubbles then the finish is hopeless. Again...it's probably orange peel and with a little luck you can level it without sanding through. Personally, I'd wet sand this level with 600 and even if there was no apparent sandthroughs I'd shoot it with two more coats and start again in a few weeks with 1000 grit.

Imagine what happens if you level this and then burn through it on the polisher. Muy malo.

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I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

Those type of problems(the micro Bubbles) is the reason I quit using EM 60000. I liked most aspects of it but for reasons I could not figure out I got those once in a while. Went back to nitro and probably won't go back to a water based finish. On a positive, learning to spray water based made spraying nitro a breeze. First one I sprayed with an inexpensive HVLP went quite well. No runs, drips, sags or other problems.

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Wisdom is justified by her children

Okay - I went back and did some more sanding. That did it. No tiny bubbles... This is all part of the learning process. The finish is lookin" good. Thank you so much for answering my cry for help...

Steve

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com