Waterborn lacquer - when to cut-back?

[Francis M]

Hi Just finished spraying a waterborn lacquer today and wondered how long people leave the finish to harden before beginning cutting back (I'm using Microgrit grades and water), few hours/days?
The intention is to finally hand buff to a good sheen but not bright gloss and I was going to leave the guitar for 4-5 days after levelling before starting buffing.
Cheers

[John Parchem]

Which waterborne lacquer? EM6000 likes one week.

[Francis M]

Hi John,
It's Morrell's 8901/362 90% sheen, 2/3 coats, for general work they specify sanding/recoat in 2 hours, packaging overnight.
I've sprayed 5 coats as I intended to cut the finish back.

[ken cierp]

I've never used that particular WB product -- but there are advantages to not waiting too long, one is that leveling with 400 grit is easier when the coating is not super hard. And yes I highly recommend fine grit for leveling 600 is even better. Certainly starting with 220g is more aggressive but you still need to follow up with successive grits ---- for my time investment avoiding the surprise "undetected" scratches is a wonderful thing!

[Francis M]

I've never used that particular WB product -- but there are advantages to not waiting too long, one is that leveling with 400 grit is easier when the coating is not super hard. And yes I highly recommend fine grit for leveling 600 is even better. Certainly starting with 220g is more aggressive but you still need to follow up with successive grits ---- for my time investment avoiding the surprise "undetected" scratches is a wonderful thing!

Thanks Ken,
Went ahead this morning and worked through micromesh grits to 12000 and it's taken on a good sheen. While the finish was still soft I cut through and removed the bridge mask so leave things now to harden for a day or two and see how things buff up (manual buffing).