Epoxy scratches - help?

[Andyjr1515]

1 hour ago, CC1 said:

If I do the slurry option - how fresh should the top layer of poly be - do I want it to be relatively fresh, barely dry, or completely cured? Will the slurry not be quite cloudy?

Overnight dry will be fine. 

It shouldn't come out cloudy.  The slurry will only fill the grain troughs which are a different colour anyway and it will be clear mixed with clear.  Once the slurry-and-wiped application has dried, you should do a light flattening in any case.  That will highlight any remaining grain and remove any residual slurry on the main surface and so you will be back to where you were originally, but with the grain lines filled.

2 hours ago, CC1 said:

I didn't think I'd need to do any sort of sealing/conditioning before putting on an oil based poly - I thought they were supposed to sit on the top of everything?

Yes - this kind of poly can self seal, but this is grain-filling I am talking about, which is different.

 

On a completely different slant - the shots you show look pretty nice in terms of the gloss.  For builds for myself, I generally like to see the grain like this - it emphasises that it is real wood.  Is super smooth essential? 

[Andyjr1515]

Just to clarify - the slurry is intended to be superfine, very light and not very deep.  You don't want to get anywhere near going back to the wood.  Therefore you could do this now as the next step.  Then tomorrow give it a light standard flattening and carry on with your final gloss coats.  The finish you are getting is telling me that you are pretty close...

[Bizman62]

2 hours ago, CC1 said:

This is going to take months!

A good finish usually does. Even the thickest 2k requires sanding in between and after and after you've finished you'll find a deeper pore. Or the pores seem to be flush and level but after a couple of months the surface looks similar to yours as the clearcoat has sunk into the pores. Although seemingly solid, all finishes are flexible and as the wood dries (or rather the remains of the fluids crystallize in wood cells) the widening pores create sort of a vacuum and suck the finish into the pores.

[CC1]

13 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

 

 

On a completely different slant - the shots you show look pretty nice in terms of the gloss.  For builds for myself, I generally like to see the grain like this - it emphasises that it is real wood.  Is super smooth essential? 

The whole thing feels rough and unpleasant, and I think it looks really scrappy. This is a gift for someone - and whilst I'm not chasing the perfect finish, just something that protects, is smooth and clear is all I'm after. It doesn't have to double as a mirror for the Hubble Telescope.

 

The degree of workmanship  trying to put into this is "would you buy something like that?" - if the answer is no, I redo whatever it is that I just did, or make it right. Otherwise the whole project just becomes a bunch of "good-enough"'s and the overall impact is lessened.

 

I am learning, and it is my first guitar, but since I have time, I don't want to do a crap/almost good enough job and worry about the rest next time , I want to get it right, learn along the way, and be even better next time 

[Andyjr1515]

No probs at all.

It's worth trying the light slurry approach I've described. 

The good thing about most polyurethane varnishes is that it is really the last couple of coats that give you the gloss, so this part of the process is about getting the underlying material smooth and even.  The challenge is the degree to which the varnish loses its bulk once the volatiles have evaporated away and what seems like a decently thick coat when you apply it will actually dry to be a very thin coat.  But it will build up with enough coats.