Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Stuck with lots of fine scratches in Permalyn finish

I've used the stuff before with good results on English walnut. On this black walnut stock, I sanded it to 1000 grit (looked great!), de-whiskered once, then three coats of Permalyn Sealer, light steel wool or more #1000 grit, two coats of Permalyn Finish, then three more coats of sealer.

Picture:

Permalyn Finish scratches

Had a couple more, but both over 2 megabytes.

Any suggestions at this point? Thanks!

Look at the way the grain is running. Your last sanding on the wood has to be with the grain and your sanding scratches are across the grain. You will need to strip it back down to bare wood again and carefully sand with the grain until you get the scratches out, then try a small area first to see if you have gotten them out to your satisfaction. Often finish will show you what you may not see with your eyes unless you are very studious about checking with a good light shining across the wood at different angles to bring out the shadows and scratches...

BTW- that looks to me like a piece of Claro walnut but I could be wrong..

I like the Permalyn sealer and have had good results with it. It tales a lot of applications but I like working with it.

Seems like you have some sanding marks that are just too deep for the steel wool to level out. You’re going to need to sand it down enough to get those sanding marks out then try to build the finish back up.

It's stump section Ohio black walnut. I cut it from a tree I'd removed forty some years ago and the blanks were cut shortly thereafter and have been air drying ever since.

When I got one planed down, the duplicator guy thought it might be too thin to get a good setup in his machine, so I sawed it lengthwise and laminated a 3/8" plain walnut center in between the halves.

The grain in the butt section (that's what the pictures are of) is really hard to follow because it twists and turns so much, even within an inch. or so.

I guess the only question now is whether to start over with 400 or 600 grit paper.

Bingo and I finish with Rottenstone.

Improper sanding sequence. The initial course sanding scratches were never sanded out because you went way too fine (1000-grit is ridiculously fine).

Yup, this is right on. Take your time, start with about 120-180 grit , then work up until all the scratches from the previous grit are gone. You shouldn't have to go much above 320 grit or so if done properly. Don't use steel wool on the wood or the finish- get some gray 3M Scrotchbrite pads. Use Rottenstone or a good automotive very fine polish for finish - depending on the gloss you are looking for.

Both comments represent sound advice.

For a barrier finish I never go past 320x. Oil finishes 600x max. Then with the rub out with rottenstone or xfine 3M pad, followed up with a good paste wax for a finale regardless of the finish.

Thank you all.

As far as taking my time, my wife says its been about six years since I began making the pattern stock. Didn't seem to be anyone offering mannlicher style semi-inlets for Ruger 77/357s. Please don't tell me if you know someone who does; I think it might push me all the way over the edge I'm already teetering on.

After getting down to the wood, I realized I need a magnifier to keep track of the grain direction in many places, at least in the butt stock, where it's as twisty as a snake's @ss.

I've got one of those fluorescent circle bulb magnifiers that would be great if it hadn't broken the flex link on the end of the adjustable arm. There don't seem to be parts available for it (no surprise), so maybe I'll get a new one with LEDs around the lens.

Fluorescent lights don't work well to show scratches and other discrepancies. Use a lamp that throws a directional light like a desk light incandescent with a round hood . You need to be able to see the shadows cast across your sanding from different angles, especially on highly figured wood. You will see what I mean when you try it.

You are down to the important part now- take your time and get it right. Sanding always takes longer than you think it should if you do it right but it is worth it in the long run...

What about a daylight spectrum LED ring, or is this a situation where incandescent works better than anything else? I can also use just the magnifier with the fluorescent bulb off and have a flexible hooded light I can bring in to the side of the magnifier.

Ring lights generally aren't directional like a light with a hood will be. What you're after is a directional light so it will show your little issues clearly by just moving it over the work . Most ring lights are made for even lighting over a subject area and don't really work well for this kind of work. But, you could give it a try and see if you can make it work for you. You will be pretty pissed if you are right back at this stage again later, I would think....

Agreed. Use a point-source light from the side; LED should be fine.

Using the magnifier, I was finally able to see the grain closely, which was a lot finer than I thought. Now at least I van tell the scratches from the figure

Thank you all again!

Originally Posted by Sheister

Fluorescent lights don't work well to show scratches and other discrepancies.


Take a freshly waxed black vehicle to the local gas station at night to see what your paint finish looks like under florescents. (sp)

Sheister, where can you buy gray 3M Scrotchbrite pads? Was in a Lowes store yesterday and they did not have that color.

Might have to go online to find them. Some woodworking stores carry them if you have time to shop around.

Try it with a point light and see what you can see....

Shouldn't be that hard to see the grain direction. Look at your first pic. The dark lines that look to be about a half inch apart that are perpendicular to your sanding scratches are the obvious grain lines... also in all the other pics- the dark and light lines that look solid are your grain lines.

Don't know about grey, but McMaster-Carr (most excellent company) supplies my maroon pads.