Friday, May 7, 2010

Scraping the radius on the binding

I basically just used the scrapers to form the radius. i will go over it with 320 grit sand paper to finish it off.

Wet sanding the head stock and applying the decal

I am using wet sand paper from 800 grit to 1200 grit. I am using extra fine cloth sanding material for final sanding. The suface has to be as smooth as possible for the decal to look right after applying and clear coating.


This is after the finest polishing cloth.
Soak the decal for 20 secs.
Then apply and use your finger to force out any bubbles.
Now all that left is applying several coats of clear lacquer wet sand again and buff out. The edges of the decal will disappear after the lacquer coats. The way I do the head stock is I apply 4-5 coats of full strength lacquer, after it dries I will use 600 grit wet sand paper on a small piece of steel and send only where the decal is. When I think I am getting close to the decal I stop and then apply 4-5 more coats and repeat the wet sand process to the decal. Eventually the edges of the decal will disappear when the lacquer on the head stock reaches the thickness of the lacquer on the decal.


Painting the head stock

Here is what I will be using. A paint-able mask for the inlay and ColorTone gloss black lacquer.
Here I am applying the liquid mask. 
After spaying 4 coats.