Post #118399 by Aaron's Akua on Wed, Oct 6, 2004 1:15 PM

Thanks RT, Doctiki & Benz.

A couple of questions (I always have more):

What progressive grits do you usually use for sanding? I figured 60, then 100, and 150 for the wood (Is this overkill?). Then 220 between coats of varnish (lightly I assume).

Do you wet sand the varnish, or dry?

After the wood is sanded, before the varnish, should I hit it with the high pressure water hose to get all of the tiki dust out? Or will the water swell the wood or create some other problem?

How about after sanding varnish? Is water okay? Or is it even important to get the dust off?

And finally, some parts of the tiki will be natural (no stain) with varnish only. These are the whites of the eyes and the teeth. Will this look okay, or should I use a really light stain? Will the varnish darken the natural non-stained wood?

I'm with Octane - I hate sanding. Especially the little nooks & crannies of the face. Well, I'm off to sand some more on my lunch break. Benz, is that dedication, or what? Look for a "Finished" post in the near future (I hope)! :)

Mahalo,

Aaron