Daveyob first build diary TLA-1

Guys. I followed the advice above on sanding and went with 80, 120 and a light 180. It went pretty well. But not being very experienced with working with wood, I think I may have some scratches still on the side at the very end of the body. I'm not sure though. I can see some horizontal lines at right angles to the grain.

I've attached an image to see if you guys think these are scratches. If they are, any advice on what sanding options are the best idea to get rid of them would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Attachment 20810

End grain is always the hardest to get smooth. Can you feel them if you lightly run your finger tips over it? If yes, keep sanding, if you are painting a solid colour your primer and top coat will do a lot of filling of minor scratches. If staining your clear will fill a lot too but get it as smooth as say, the feeling of newspaper on your finger tips and you can't go wrong.

For sanding marks like that you will often need to sand with the grain, following it as best you can, for each different piece of wood up through the grits until they disappear. Then you can start back inline with the side/edge once you get to the finer grits. The trick is not making it uneven by sanding across the different sections.

I know this might seem a silly question but on that part of the body, I assume 'with the grain' means up and down over the short side of that face - meaning that if you lay the body on a table you would be sanding up and down vertically as opposed to horizontally?

Yes, that's correct. Sanding across the grain always creates more noticeable marks than sanding with the grain. Sometimes you need to sand across the grain if there are big marks to get rid of, but once they become relatively small, then sanding with the grain is the way to go.

I always use 80 grit to make short-work of machine marks such as these. Be careful not to re-shape the wood with the coarse sand paper. I use a small rectangular eraser as a sanding block to help keep things square.

As others have said you need to sand in the direction of the grain first until those 'across the grain' machine marks disappear then revert to sanding along the line of that edge of the body to bring it up nice and smooth.

Unfortunately, I have found on each of my kits that there has been one piece of wood with its end grain at 90 degrees to the others. If you sand with the grain the machining marks will sand out, if you sand across the grain the machining marks can actually get worse. You may have to experiment to see which direction of sanding works best for each piece of wood.

I've just done a dingotone clear neck finish. All seemed to go well but although it's been a week of drying, the neck doesn't feel quite as smooth as before it had any finish on it. Initially I think it was just still a bit tacky as it dried, but it still could possibly be a bit smoother. I'm wondering if I should apply a second top coat, or maybe there's a way I could give it a polish to smooth it back out a bit. Any suggestions guys?

It's winter, I'd give it another week, even two. Dingotone requires patience because it doesn't have toxic chemical drying agents in it (or something like that.) If you sand before it's ready you will make things worse.