Step By Step Instructions Of Making Wood Shiny And Smooth
If you are looking to make your wood shiny and smooth, then one of the best ways to do this is by applying a coat of polyurethane. You can take virtually any piece of wood before adding a DIY shiny wood finish using polyurethane. Applying a coat of polyurethane to a piece of wood is an easy process, however, it is time consuming and takes a lot of hard work in order to get a smooth, flat, shiny finish. Due to the fact that the process is not overly complex, it is a great place to start learning about woodworking.
- Sand The Surface Of The Wood: First of all, sand the surface of the wood with the help of 600-grit sand paper in order to get rid of any imperfections as well as give the polyurethane a gripping surface. You can either sand freehand or use an electric sander like an orbital sander or a belt sander if in case the project is large. If you use electric equipment, then you need to be extremely careful, because an electric sander can eradicate a lot of wood very quickly.
- Clean The Surface Using Mineral Spirits: Now, clean the surface with the help of a rag dampened with mineral spirits. This, in turn, will help get rid of all of the wood dust from the wood pores.
- Pore Filler: Next, brush clear pore filler onto the wood surface with the help of a paint sponge. Pore filler is importantly thick polyurethane especially designed to fill up the pores in wood. Allow the pore filler sufficient amount of time to completely dry before moving on. This timeframe is entirely dependent on many factors, such as the humidity, temperature and brand of filler all affect drying times. Read & go through the drying times on the container carefully.
- Sand The Surface Of Pore Filler: After that, sand the surface of the pore filler with the help of 600-grit sand paper. As you sand the filler, you will get rid of it from the wood surface as well as leave the filler inside the pores. Repeat Steps 3 and 4 as long as the surface of the wood is smooth and the pores is no longer present in the wood surface.
- Again Clean The Wood Surface Using Mineral Spirits: Clean the surface of the wood with the help of mineral spirits and allow the chemicals time to dry before proceeding onto the next step.
- Apply A Coat Of Polyurethane: Now, apply a coat of polyurethane onto the wood surface. Again, allow sufficient amount of drying time before sanding with 600-grit sand paper. Do a light "scuff" sanding just in order to give the next coat an adhering surface. Three coats of polyurethane is enough.
- Sand The Polyurethane Surface Flat: Sand the polyurethane surface flat with the help of 600-grit sandpaper. Graduate the sandpaper from 600-grit to 800-grit, before moving to 1000-grit and then to 1200-grit sandpaper. As you graduate to finer grits of sandpaper, you get rid of the scratches from the surface of the polyurethane. It is important to take care not to sand through the hard-coat as well as into the wood surface. If you do, then you need to spread an additional three coats of polyurethane and start this step over.
- Buff The Surface Of The Wood: Finally, put or spread a buffing compound to a cotton rag and buff the surface of the wood with the help of a rag. This, in turn, will apply the shine to the wood surface.