I screwed up the paint job on my stock.

S

Saigashooter

New member
Well I finally got the suhl 150 stock modified to my liking and it was time to paint that bad boy. I got it sprayed yesterday in between rounds of mushroom hunting. It turned out looking really nice and then I screwed it up today by handling it before it was fully cured. I am hoping that a light buffing of oooo steel wool and a fresh clearcoat will fix it. I'll post pics once. I get on wifi.
 
Yeah, don’t do that, you don’t want to use steel wool.
Give it a few days and then get some 400, 500, and 600 wet and dry paper and lighty, repeat lightly wet sand the trouble spots.
If you don'tbreak through you can then use compound and buff it out to high gloss, if you do, 1-2 topcoats of clear.
 
I have all kinds of sandpaper from 60 to 2000 grit. Out of curiosity why use sandpaper vs extra fine steel wool. Also why do I want to wet sand as compare to dry sanding? I'm only asking because I like to know why and how to do something a certain way. That way when someone asks me, I like to sound like I know what I'm talking about. I was just using rattle cans to paint it btw.
 
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jackie schmidt said:
Treat it just like it was a car in a paint shop.

Wet sand with 400 through 600, then buff and polish.
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I haven't done anything in the way of body work on a car. If my girlfriend found out how much money I have wrapped up in my guns and rests she might kill me. Much less if I got into hotrods or classic cars. Those guys are crazy.

I should be able to get it all buffed out without to many problems. Do I even need to break out the 1500 and 2000 grit for anything?
 
STOP!!!!


Don't touch it with sandpaper nor steel wool yet!

(OK, NEVER touch it with steel wool!)

but,

There's a new boy on the block.....flat cutting compound.

:)

Back in the day I'd blow the paint on then wet sand progressively and then wish I hadn't because getting the scratches out took DAYS and in the end were never as shiny as when I started....it was either shiny with tiny "orange peel" or flat but not shiny...... I tried and tried to "lay the paint down better" ie make it flatter and shinier from the get-go. I went to ridiculous lengths trying to completely AVOID the "sanding/buffing/polishing" because unless I used lacquer I was never happy.

But no matter how good I got, the job was never FLAT.

So HOW to get flat and still shiny? Basically, back then there were few options. "All hotrods were lacquered"

period.

But mebbeso 6-8 yrs ago a new product hit the scene. "Flat-cutting glaze"


https://www.walmart.com/ip/Meguiar-...MIk9msxpj34QIVPiCtBh1pjA6HEAQYASABEgI0fvD_BwE


Dis stuff is Da' Friggin' BOMB!!!


When it came out it was marketed as "flat-cutting abrasive discs" carried in a sloppy water-based paste.


I of course figgered "scam".....


But it AIN'T!


I've used it on everything from pool cues to gunstocks to even (Lord Forfend!) cars.....


IMO it is THE CRUCIAL STEP between flattening (ie wet-sanding) and mirror polish and it'll even FLATTEN better than it would seem possible.....


This 20 minute vid kinda' explains the "why" of it all if you've time but he just calls the stuff "compound" kinda' missing the fact that whole generations of old guys don't even know it exists.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHEpqYGuUHI


My point it, DO NOT be afraid to flatten it out a liddle, knock off the high spots with blocked wet-sanding then try this "glazing compound"...... It's the furthest thing from the old "water-carried sandpaper" crap of yore. This stuff FLATTENS instead of just making the ripples worse.

And you don't need the power buffer. Just squirt a little on a piece of paper towel and try it.

IMO it is the magic bridge between sanding and polishing..... it just takes all the work out!

Just be careful, it will CUT like sandpaper under power
 
Saigashooter said:
I have all kinds of sandpaper from 60 to 2000 grit. Out of curiosity why use sandpaper vs extra fine steel wool. Also why do I want to wet sand as compare to dry sanding? I'm only asking because I like to know why and how to do something a certain way. That way when someone asks me, I like to sound like I know what I'm talking about. I was just using rattle cans to paint it btw.
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You ever see custom car shops wet-wool a car?.. no. It will often imbed into the paint and never get it all out. You use paper to wet sand because it is less aggressive and using plenty of water keeps the paper from loading up.
 
tim said:
You ever see custom car shops wet-wool a car?.. no. It will often imbed into the paint and never get it all out. You use paper to wet sand because it is less aggressive and using plenty of water keeps the paper from loading up.
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Thank you sir. I sort of figured as much with those damn little fibers. I guess I'll see what happens this evening. Unless I get into the shrooms...
 
Well...

Saigashooter said:
If my girlfriend found out how much money I have wrapped up in my guns and rests she might kill me.
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If you think she will kill you as a girlfriend, she most certainly will as a wife. Weigh your options carefully before you decide to ask the former to become the latter.
 
About 7 yo I was visiting family in Phoenix. I decided to visit McMillan stock co. I got lucky and when I pulled into the lot there at a picnic bench was a gentleman that looked important.

I asked him about touching up the chips and repainting my Mcmillan stock. He went into great detail on what to use for filler and paint.

His closing remark was "if you get all done and dont like it just sand it and repaint it--it is ONLY paint."

Turns out he was shop foreman on a break, reading the newspaper. He showed me around the office and
production area.

In the office was the framed target of one of the McMillans'. Total measurement 0.009.. I didnt take a picture. Couple yrs later I went back w/ camera. Target no longer on display. All I could see was ONE hole. It was stated that some measurement had to be assigned to the group-0.009 was selected. It was probably/definitely less than that.
 
Joe’s right. It may never cure.
With the wrong prep on the wrong item on the wrong primer, the finish coat may never cure properly. A professional car and motorcycle painter friend of ours did an old McMillan stock for us. The stock never had a show room finish. As he sanded coat after coat of paint off the stock, he related that “This was Pittsburg Paint number so and so and this was available from 1984 to 1989”. This primer was such and such and so it went until he got to the original paint job and he showed us how this paint never properly cured. As a matter of fact he said it still wasn’t properly cured in 18 years. He took the stock down to bare and did a beautiful job on the stock. It still looks good. In the entire process the stock lost 6 ounces of weight.
The moral of my story is to have a pro do the job. It’s money well spent.
 
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