<HTML><HEAD> <META charset=US-ASCII http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1106" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff"> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style">Hello all you who do your own plate finishing,</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style"></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style">I haven't had much trouble in this regard until now. We have a spray booth and have always sanded and finished our own plates. However, there is a plate in the shop now that was previously refinished (with I don't know what), and the finish is severly cracked. We have tried sanding down through it, but it doesn't seem practical or effective - the cracking is all the way through the finish. I want it <STRONG>all</STRONG> gone, so its unknown qualities don't affect the new finish. We are thinking our only choices are to strip, or to sandblast. </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style"></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style">Has anyone had experience with either? The only other plate we stripped completely was years ago, and I remember that it took off the original japanning as well as the finish, leaving the original roughness of the casting, and took an awful lot of hand work and fillers to smooth it. I expect that sandblasting would be more controllable as to depth, but I don't know if it would leave a smooth enough surface. Any ideas? Any?</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style"></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style">Thanks,</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style">Bob Davis</FONT></DIV><BR><BR><BR><DIV><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">See what's free at <A title="http://www.aol.com?ncid=AOLAOF00020000000503" href="http://www.aol.com?ncid=AOLAOF00020000000503" target="_blank">AOL.com</A>. </FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>