clear coat problem

I clear coated my headstock with deft gloss. It looks like there are a few "pits" in the finish. i used about 10 coats then i sanded down with 800-2000grit to polish it out. It looks like the clear coat didnt stick to the wood in a few places creating Pits. Is there any way to fix this other than sanding it down and starting over?

I clear coated my headstock with deft gloss. It looks like there are a few "pits" in the finish. i used about 10 coats then i sanded down with 800-2000grit to polish it out. It looks like the clear coat didnt stick to the wood in a few places creating Pits. Is there any way to fix this other than sanding it down and starting over?

My first question is did you sand between coats?

My second is... are they pits like pockmarks (like orange peel)? Or are they areas that popped loose? OR are they fisheyes?

Each one has a different solution...

Hows about some additional info in regards to your surface prep and between coat work please. Several things could be the problem....
:cool:

they look like little pockets where the finish didnt stick to the wood. its not orange peel i know that. i did not sand between coats because deft says theres no need. they are kind of like litle circles of bare wood.i orginally sanded down to the barewood, put a couple layers on the wood. then i put a decal on then continued with the clear coat.

Did you clean your headstock before shooting it?

And when did they appear on the surface? Right at the beginning or later?

Gilles

It sounds like you are describing fisheyes (an extreme example can be seen here: http://www.monokote.com/lustrekote/painting-tips/topr7200tip5.html ). These usually appear when some form of dirt or grit has been left on the surface (usually from sanding). You might be able to get by with a light sanindg, a good cleaning, then re-shooting. I would try this first, unless you are looking for a museum quality finish, then I would suggest sanding back and starting again from scratch.

Hoep that helps,

yeh i cleaned it, it was after i had put the decal on so the first 3 coats were fine.

thanks for the help, do you think that if i sanded down a little then tried to "fill in" these holes with some clear after cleaning it again that this would help? or would it possibly make it worse?

thanks for the help, do you think that if i sanded down a little then tried to "fill in" these holes with some clear after cleaning it again that this would help? or would it possibly make it worse?

Couldn't really hurt, right? I mean if it doesn't work you'll have to sand it off and start again... so, give it a shot, it's just the headstock, so you probably won't be using huge amounts of spray up. Maybe a little time, that's about all.

But then, I'm kinda cavalier about finishing myself. Most modern spray finishes are very forgiving as they are made for the lowest common denominator....

thanks for all the help and advice.. feel free to keep giving more advice if anybody else knows any tricks...