As the finishing continues I started into the 0000 steel wool and buffed up the first coat of poly. I've done quite a bit of this sort of work in the past, and on a variety of projects, but I am by no means an expert or an authority on finishing. Still, it's kind of a no-brainer. Like they say regarding hunting - you just have to put in the time.
It can seem kind of counter-intuitive to take a nice glossy surface of dried poly and scuff it up with a handful of steel. But you soon get the feel of it and you quickly learn the appropriate amount of pressure to apply in any given area. And it really is a feel as much or more than a visual. Sometimes lighter, and sometimes quite a heavier pressure.
When you first start into it you can feel all the little imperfections in the initial glossy coat, and then you can feel the steel wool knocking down those imperfections and the entire surface smoothing out considerably. As you hand rub (sometimes in a circular fashion, especially in a smaller width area, but never across grain) you can feel where to go next even if you can't see it well.
But always try and keep smooth, "straight with the grain" strokes, pushes and pulls and move your body into the best position. Between seeing the region from a few feet away, then getting close in you have to set down your glasses, then as you move out you can't see distance again, it's continuously a "feel" thing. And you trade off the one tired hand and arm for the other, swapping which hand holds the trouble light. :)
As time goes on you realize the surface you have just prepped for the next coat has a smooth, hard, aged patina quality that just isn't obtainable any other way.
Here's an example of steel-wool buffed on the right and untouched as of yet on the left.
This time around I was doing the entire wood paneled and partition portions of the over-head bunk area, as well as the face of the fridge cabinet and the great-room sides of the partition arch and right front camper corner in the dinette area.
Sometimes it's hard to see from the photos, but I think these next pics are of the area buffed up and wiped down and ready for the second poly application.
And then after another application (two or three hours with a 1.5" brush in one hand, a quart can of poly in another, and a trouble light in a third). And of course you have to be able to hold two things at once in one hand while you free the other for eye-glasses manipulation. Head cranked back at a weird angle, shoulders twitching involuntarily with that whole age thing. It's quite a contortionist's dream if you know what I mean.
So that is two coats of the maple tinted poly and good enough for continued structural assembly. After all is completed, we'll probably come in at the end and buff again and put on one or two more coats of an untinted poly, just to make sure all surfaces have that long-lasting and visually pleasing finish and to kind of tie everything together.
