Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Stripping the Sealer

It seems only fitting that a PRS style clone should have a PRS style finish. This means a deep, iridescent finish that seems to glow from within. Ok, perhaps a bit ambitious for a first project. And perhaps a bit unrealistic considering the quality of the maple top. In any case, I needed to get to the raw maple under that sealed finish.

After some research I decided on CitrusStrip which seemed less intimidating that some of the industrial-strength and highly toxic strippers out there. I got my supplies together and masked off some workspace with newspaper.



There are several things I learned soon afterward.

The stripping approach a failure I decided to get busy with some sand paper. More learning followed.

About two weekends after opening the box I finally had what would have to pass for bare wood. I would have stopped after sanding just the top but I ended up sanding through the sealer on the side so I just stripped off all of the sealer.



After all that work I was pleased to see some good flaming and that nice maple iridescence (which doesn't show in the pictures).



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