sealer with auto clear

[SPM]

the man at the auto paint store told me that i didn't need to seal the wood before i put auto clear on it. is this true? i find it hard to believe. if it is false, can you tell me what kind of sealer and steps you use? thanks SPM

 

[Shooter32]

You dont have to seal the wood when you use auto clear, just sand it down as far as you want and shoot it with as many coats as you want then wet sand and buff to the ultimate shine .

 

[bhoges]

Ive done several stocks and a sealer must be applied to close the grain. If not the pores will show though the clear. You also have to use a sealer that wont react with the clear. Mike Kav uses fiberglass resin and he one of the top painters. If you dont want to go that route since its super labor intensive I used a water based sealer from HomeDepot. You wont get 100 of the pores but it comes out pretty nice.

 

[SPM]

thanks for the input guys, the man i bought the stock from says he uses gorrila glue to seal it, but its alot of work. so if i decide to seal it, i must use a waterbased sealer? does it matter what clear i use with it? thanks again, SPM

 

[bhoges]

You can seal it with several things but I would stay away from anything oil based .It would react with the clear. Id use resin or another sealer. Something that wont effect the color or finsih.

 

[Preacher]

With enough clear coats applied the pores will eventually be closed and as smooth as a baby's you know what..... It will not need to be sealed as a few have mentioned.

 

[bhoges]

Sorry but I have to disagree. Excessive layers of clear will cause problems. You will waste materials and time trying to fill the pores. Trust me I painted cars for 7yrs in a high end body shop and have been doing painting for 15yrs total. Glasurit clear cost about 20x what sealer does. Why waste the material. Its far easier to sand the sealer than to clear and wet sand.

 

[LongRanger]

I ran an un-scientific mini test on different stock finishes, including Auto Clear, by applying several of them to a board, letting them dry, and then running swabs over them that were soaked with all the various bore cleaners ranging from BMG 50 to Hoppe's to Outers foam. Some cleaners ate a channel through the finish faster than I could grab a wrag to wipe off. Plain vanilla Min-Wax polyurethane turned out to be, by far, the most durable in my test. For my stocks, I spray and hand-rub several coats of poly into the wood.