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  #1  
Old 07-19-2020, 01:29 PM
seangil seangil is offline
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Default solarez - seems too good to be true

I wanted to compare experience with other builders. I am using Solarez pore filler and will use their finish for the first time. The selling angle on their product is that it cures in a few minutes when placed in direct sunlight. I have say that I was pretty impressed with putting on my first coat of pore filler. It did indeed get a basic cure in a few minutes, although it did seem to benefit from having some additional time.

My question is whether anyone else has used it and has advice on making the most of the product? In particular, do you sand between layers of pore filling?

Thanks - I will post a picture of two later.
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  #2  
Old 07-20-2020, 06:55 AM
redir redir is offline
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Default

Interesting, I never heard of it before. I jsut started using Aquacoat and found that to be pretty terrific too. Second coat can be added in 30 minutes, I give it an hour.

In any case I'm of the opinion that no matter what you use for a pore filler you should sand back to wood leaving only the pores filled. Thats why they call it pore filler
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  #3  
Old 07-20-2020, 08:48 AM
phavriluk phavriluk is offline
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Default opinion

Agreed on sanding back to wood. Nice way to both control thickness and help leveling the surface. For an amateur like me, I can use all the visible signs of success that I can find.
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  #4  
Old 09-11-2020, 01:01 AM
Codfather Codfather is offline
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Default Solarez

Quote:
Originally Posted by seangil View Post
I wanted to compare experience with other builders. I am using Solarez pore filler and will use their finish for the first time. The selling angle on their product is that it cures in a few minutes when placed in direct sunlight. I have say that I was pretty impressed with putting on my first coat of pore filler. It did indeed get a basic cure in a few minutes, although it did seem to benefit from having some additional time.

My question is whether anyone else has used it and has advice on making the most of the product? In particular, do you sand between layers of pore filling?

Thanks - I will post a picture of two later.
Any updates ?
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  #5  
Old 09-12-2020, 07:52 PM
seangil seangil is offline
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Default update

I've done six coats of I Can't Believe It's Not Lacquer. Between each coat, I used 400/600 grit sandpaper. The owner suggested 220/400, but the 220 seemed aggressive. After about 5 coats, it started to get more of a natural smooth feel. I've been curing in direct sun and found that it needs about 20 mins of exposure to lose the tacky feel. It does clog the 600 sandpaper pretty quickly, although someone else had better experience with wet sanding. The product comes out of the jar with a consistency a bit like maple syrup or maybe honey if it is cold. I have been brushing it on, scraping with a credit card, and then absorbing excess with applicator pads. I can get a pretty even coat. It is worth the extra time to really smooth it out when wet because it is not the most forgiving of products if you weren't paying attention and left a glob. You can get rid of the witness lines with sanding enough to satisfying someone that doesn't look carefully, but, if you are a semi-perfectionist type that inspects really closely, you will still see it.

I love the convenience of the product, but I do have some concerns about the sun exposure being tough on the wood. The guitar gets quite warm and when I put a sponge inside the guitar to re-introduce moisture, the sponge dries out quite fast. You can use the flashlight, but I don't have the patience and I don't think that it cures as well as direct sun. A coatings professional in another forum was speculating that it is important with this product to make sure that it really cures and that there is not any uncured coating in the deeper layers.
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  #6  
Old 09-20-2020, 08:39 PM
seangil seangil is offline
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Default Update

I tried layering on a thick coat this time around, but it was a mistake. I don't know if it was my technique or the product, but I ended up with a very poor surface. There were a number of low spots as the solarez doesn't seem to naturally flow together and some heavy buildup at seams that also included air pockets that were not visible I started sanding.

I am going to return to very thin layers again even though it seems to take a long time that way.
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  #7  
Old 09-25-2020, 10:27 PM
seangil seangil is offline
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Default further update

I tried doing a very thick layer, which proved to be a mistake. The lacquer trapped air bubbles in a couple places at seams and left a very uneven surface. All sorts of problems that I did not encounter with my original approach of using a pad and very thin layers. It seems both hard and brittle at the same time.
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