Lots and lots of sanding the last couple of days. 120 grit, down to 600 grit and finally I was ready to put on the first wash coat of the dilute shellac process called French Polish
I buy rolls of sticky backed sandpaper which adheres nicely to any kind of sanding block. Hugely helpful. One of my best tools is sticky sandpaper attached to a plastic credit card. Use it for impossibly tight corners and more.
Luthers Mercantile (L.M.I.) has solved the longstanding problem of glue over spill that is very hard to detect until the finish is applied. If you miss a glue spot it seems to become more noticeable with time. A real headache. LMI luthiers glue now contains something that glows blue under ultra-violet light and you can spot it and remove that extra glue during the sanding stage. You can see here where I need to sand a little bit more.
Now this threw me for a loop. The white black white purfling on this uke must be impregnated with that chemical. Only the white portion of the W/B/W glowed under the light. This is not a glue over-spill and will finish just fine.- but it sure illustrates the idea.
The first "wash coat" of dilute shellac went on late this afternoon. Always an exciting moment as the beauty of the wood begins to reveal itself.
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Just one more Zodiac picture from last week. Enjoying a chocolate mousse desert in the salon.
