I'm about to lose my mind with finishing the cue. Yes, I am learning and adjusting techniques with each cue, but these two are trying me.
I have had great success on some cues and others not so much. These started out with a Max Clear epoxy base and a Solarez top-coat. The joint is at 0.840" and the sanding mandrel is 0.850"
I am switching out the epoxy with BSI Finish-Cure. The couple of pieces I have used it on so far are great. I also replaced my DIY vacuum chamber with a real epoxy bubble release chamber so hopefully that will help too.
I applied the epoxy, waited a week, applied the Solarez, waited week, and the cues looked great as usual. There were no visible bubbles or defects. I wet sand it down with 150 to near final thickness and start moving to finer grits. On the one, I started to see the tiny dots. I worked up close and tried to sand just past them. Just when I thought it was going to work, I sanded through a spot. That one is now fully sanded back down to start over.
The other was going great. I only saw a few dots at the very end of the butt cap, which I think I might have been able to fix. The rest was looking beautiful. I was at a 1000 grit when I noticed the sand through pictured below.
I know I have to start over on the finish again, but any pointers would be appreciated.
Scott