Jim Scott wrote:
On Fri, 19 Aug 2005 18:53:35 GMT, ben wrote:

Ian Cornish" "icornish at talk21 dot com wrote:
What do you mean by "wet and dry" sanding ?

I'm thinking of doing my front door soon, and was just planning to
(I guess) normal dry sand it smooth, and then paint it in a standard
weathershield paint (it's a metal door).
What would wet and dry sanding do, and how do I do it ?


[snip]

Using wet&dry(carborundum)sand paper is basically for paint on metal
and gives a very smooth finish, with use of the finer wet&dry and a
bucket of water and washing up liquid makes the job much easier to
sand the paint rather than the conventional wood sandpapering.

You just keep dipping the wet&dry in the water and apply to the paint
surface in a circular motion, don't rub too hard as you don't want
erase the paint fully.
Basically what your achieving is getting a mirror like finish on the
final coat of paint.
This technique is used by the old coach builders.

He will need to know which grade to use?
I'm not sure, but since I would buy my W&D paper from my local car
shop I would expect them to advise me. Mind you there's probably a
website. There usually is.

Grade 180 is quite adequate for this but must be wetted then applied.