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Well, I finally got around to taking my first apart a little over a week ago to finish up the FP process. The back and sides were pretty good, but the top needed a fair amount of work. I had put on a number of bodying sessions over the last week, and last night was glazing. Working away happy as a lark. All of a sudden, I heard the sound of something hard scraping across the top. Yep - fingernail! OK, I did the little oil and 400 grit thing to see if I could sand it out. It wasn't invisible, but I let it go, built the area back up, and went on. In a minute it happened again. I thought I was being careful, but when gliding on and off the top, it's easy to catch the muneca on the edge, apparently. This scratch was long and deep. I ended the night up taking the whole finish off the top, to start over. What a night! I think I'm going to get some of those heavy finger tip protectors for French Polishing. At least that would only leave a rubber mark on the top.

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Waddy

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Be glad that's all that happened! You didn't bang it into any machinery or drop it on the floor.

But, yeah, it sucks.

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Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
http://redrivercanoe.ca/

Waddy, good lesson learned! I think I've said before that I always wear a surgical type glove on my right hand when French polishing just for this reason.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

I can assure you I will be wearing some kind of gloves when I do, from now on. I justified it also because I kept seeing things on the top that I did not like. Just little things, but why start with that. It should be as good as I can make it. Hopefully, I am getting better at French Polishing, as I am getting lots of practice. Thanks for your commiserations!

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Waddy

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Yeah wear those gloves that the proctologist wears.......

Sorry this happened to ya Waddy bro.

Waddy--

I've found out the hard way that you need to remove any jewelry from your hands and wrists and also if you are wearing a shirt with long sleeves and button cuffs, roll them up! The spruce is pretty tender and darned easy to dent. You might be able to steam a lot of it out.

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Jim Howell
Charlotte, NC

When I got down to wood, the scratches were light, and in the upper bout primarily, so I sanded them out. They did go all the way through the finish though. As I said though it allowed me to sand out a couple of other imperfections I had seen after getting finish on the top. Little things don't show as much on back and sides, but sure shine out on the top, don't they?

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Waddy

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