block sanding sucks !

A little but it also depends on who's eye is looking at it. Joe blow spectator probably won't get past loving or hating satin paint but the rodder with a discerning eye who sites down the side of cars that otherwise impress him will spot every flaw that the satin is trying to hide.

I've always thought that a lot of guys go with satin black because most of the old magazines and old photos were black and white and the quality of the printing was such that a lot of the dark colored cars be they black, green, blue or dark maroon ended up looking like they were satin black or shiny black.

Case in point, What color do you think my Dad's 41 ragtop was when he had it and was dating my mom in 1945/46?

From the water on the ground it looks like he just washed it but it wasn't black even though it looked black in the photo. If my uncle had taken the photo before the car was washed it would probably have had a satin look to it.

 

They both look the same when you are wet sanding. Bob

 

Nope......satin needs to be as straight as gloss black.....I painted my OT car satin black, and made sure to block that this several times before squirting....

Satin is less forgiving in that runs and crap in the paint require a re-spray not just sand them out and polish....
Tom

 

Some will see irregularities regardless of the color or gloss. The general public is less likely to notice imperfections when the color is light and or non-gloss.

 

Are we still cryin'!?

Are you still sanding?

Come on 31 suck it up! Grandma was slow but she was old!

 

You guys care to elaborate on this process ?
I've shot them with black lacquer to check and block again but it wasn't shiny.
Black base coat wont be shiny either.
That worked more like a super guide coat more than anything else

How can you use the reflections of high gloss to perfect the surfaces, once you start the refection gets drastically reduced?

 

If you wet the surface with wax and grease remover you can "sight" the panel. Don't let it dry on the surface.

 

Yep, I do all the time.

I have a couple panels that I think I'm done blocking.
I was wanting to hear more about this paint it glossy black and work it some more.

What I'm picturing is not much more than any other Redo. You know when its glaring obvious you missed something after its black cleared and rubbed. Out comes the long board & paint sticks again. So maybe this process is a planned redo?

 

No WE aren't cryin' , I'm all by myself , yea sanding off and on. But I did get 2 solid days of it, no interruptions, no greasy hands, no chicken pizza fingers!

I miss my grandma !

 

"
Originally Posted by da34guy
Ya want perfect ===
Get it to where ya think it is PERFECT.
Run it in the booth (body or parts)
Blast 1 coat of black base on it.
Roll it out the next day and block it 1 more time.
Even then it may not B perfect !"

31 Vic; the process described is kind of a check on your progress. Having had a career of big dollar paint jobs, I know what da34guy is saying.

"How can you use the reflections of high gloss to perfect the surfaces, once you start the refection gets drastically reduced" The LACK of reflection is what needs to be "touched". The reflected part is the low point which needs either built up or the "non-reflective" needs to be lower.
Send me a pm if I can help, I'm in Westpark.
Dale
Cleveland OH

 

Thanks Dale,
Makes sense and that would be a shiny guide coat vs a solid black dull guide coat.
So what's used for the shiny black coat ?

 

"Thanks Dale,
Makes sense and that would be a shiny guide coat vs a solid black dull guide coat.
So what's used for the shiny black coat ?"
How about we talk on the phone, sending you a pm

 

To me, block sanding is one of the most rewarding processes of a paint job. block sanding properly prepared parts is not very difficult, but doing body work with primer or trying to fix bad work with primer sux

 

Water tends to level the surface so that's a problem. And, you can see things on a gloss painted surface that just won't be apparent on a wet surface; things like irregularities at the ends of louvers, imperfections in transitions between two or more adjacent surfaces(especially concave areas), and imperfections in the block sanding. You can get a great job without going to this extreme. Even on most show paint jobs it's not done. It's just allows someone with sufficient skill, and enough available time, to get a little closer to perfect. Of course, perfect isn't actually achievable.

 

Quiet guys...what's that sound?

...schhh schhh schhh schhh schhh schhh schhh schhh schhh schhh schhh schhh schhh schhh schhh schhh schhh schhh schhh schhh schhh schhh schhh schhh schhh schhh schhh schhh schhh schhh schhh schhh schhh schhh schhh schhh schhh schhh schhh schhh schhh schhh schhh schhh...

 

Hey, 31 & CW;

When you guys get done discussing the technique, would you mind going over it here? Doubt I'll ever get that nice of a paint job, but I do appreciate straight. (Last couple of jobs were "ok" - & still a lot of work, done when I had energy to burn.) . & would like to know how it's done. I'm borderline insatiably curious. To me, it's even more amazing when I realize the $$ commitment to get it virtually perfect, costing more than my entire car, or two of them, or three, well - you get the idea. .

Marcus...

 

That's funny stuff right there !!
I figured I average 4 strokes a minute throughout the day ; factoring in for paper changes, blow downs,coffee and popping in on the Hamb. That's alot of those schhhes. Some (a lot) are sssccccchhhhhhhhhhhh 6' stroke with 24" long board and those take longer.

Block the body work,
Block the icing.
Block the upol
Block the primer
Yea I'm still sanding

 

So are you saying this process is to actually paint the car black, clear it, rub it, and then instead of living with what you may have missed to rework any imperfections?

The last "deceivingly perfect" black one I did was finished in enamel. The first coats wet sanded flat with 600 then 800 and then 3 more coats of black were applied, wet sanded and buffed. That allowed me some extra mills paint thickness in solid black to work the surface further if needed after the buff. Plenty of paint and no worries about going thru the clear, or future scratches showing thru or future rub outs going thru. At the 5 year mark it was sanded again with 2000 paper and rubbed up by hand with liquid ebony. Maybe not perfect but every car show judge thought it was.

Now would that be a similar process ? ???

This one will be painted black candy over pink base.

I'm always looking to further hone my skills, time isn't unlimited but I have plenty of it sometimes.

 

Didn't Elton John have a song that went.... I'm still sanding... Yeah, yeah, yeah!

 

That really made me laugh !
Oh funny shit there

 

Ha Ha!

Now that I planted that song in your head, try doing anymore sanding without it going through your head!

Consider it a motivational piece.

 

The surfaces are painted with a smoothly applied coat of single stage black, examined for imperfections under appropriate light, corrected/sanded as needed, rechecked as needed, color sanded all over, then the job is primed and/or sealed, then painted.

Although I have to stop myself from being too much of a perfectionist, even I have never gone to this extreme. I have seen and been involved in some show cars and classic car restorations where it was done.

 

If one were to compare the processes we've described, they are very similar in nature.
Easier and a bit more forgiving with solid black SS throughout .

 

Hahahahaha!

 

After we talked, I went back to your color post. The color looks amazing. I think shooting some black lacquer as a test will help show your prep progress. Easy to shoot and see where you stand.

All the best,
Dale
Cleveland OH

 

I tried some Cumberland 2k 6550 and Im not liking it.
Usually use Mar Hyde in buff but the supplier was out of it. He said the Cumberland was "exactly" the same just grey.

The Cumberland is loading up my paper (mirka) and I find it to be exceptionally soft.
Someting is wrong here- Im wondering if its just me & what I'm used to, the supply house opinion or problem with the material batch. It was mixed exactly as the tech sheet said, and shop conditions are the same. These two products are no where near the same.

Anyone have a similar or different experience with Cumberland 2k urethane filler primer?

 

You need an enthusiastic assistant. First one is at about 3 years old, second at about 7. Please don't turn me in to social services, good help is hard to find!

 

4 foot piece of 1-1/4 PVC pipe today on the bed sides concave areas. Blocking the upol reface.
They are finally straight now. Looks like I'll be shooting some more primer tomorrow.
I picked up some Mar Hyde in black, anxious to see how that works out.

 

Cobbled up a wet sanding wading pool today

Apparently a decade or so ago, they sealed up the all the floor drains here. Something about them being tied into the down spouts and flowing into the creek. Not really a big deal unless you have lots of wet sanding to do in February ! The floors still have the pitch to the drain location but not really enough.

Ran down to HD for some 1-1/4 PVC and a tarp. Laid out the tarp- coupled the pipe in the shape of a 8x 20" trailer with tongue and wrapped the tarp around it. Taped it with gorrila tape 100%. Flipped it over and set the puddle pump in the "V" that's over the old drain.

Works like a charm !
If I leave the pump off I can play in 1-1/2" of water too.

 

I did my 40 pickup myself and I was amazed at how straight it was. I can't agree more with starting out with coarser grits than you might think would be good. On my fiberglass parts (Wescotts), They were pretty straight so I actually started my blocking on the gel coat. From there I sprayed them in high build All U Need and blocked with 180, then 220, then resprayed and then 320 and then 400. In the process, I wiped the clean panels with a clean wet microfiber cloth and observed the reflection of a broomstick in the wet panel. My neighbors thought I was some kind of nut, slowly walking around a fender on a stand holding a broomstick a few inches above and parallel to the panel surface. But it works, you can read the panel like crazy. Also some high builds are much easier to sand than others. I use ALL U NEED because it requires no epoxy or etch, builds great and is waterproof and contains no ISO's but it's a bear to sand. I gave up on trying to go with the finer grits to get rid of the early sand scratches and just laid more material on instead. The truck came out awesome!