Ok, I picked up sanding sealer at Ace hardware and only today I noticed it was solvent-based not water. Will this work with the floor polish or should I just wait and get water based? Or if I cover the whole plane with silkspan can I skip sanding sealer ?

Yeah I went back and swapped it for the water based one. taThe guy working there said it prolly doesn't work worth a damn.....hahah I'm in ca. no less.
 

just an off the cuff remark about the paints..ie water based aren't as good as the old stuff.And I'm living in the state that as far as I know has the tightest environmental laws on the books.

i tried 5 coats of the ace brand sealer (5) and still have grain showing... maybe if you dipped it it might work.
roger

I don't apply flawless finishes yet, but believe that I can, when desired. I get a lot of mileage from my sand paper from the technique described below.

After a few coats of sanded clear, sanding sealer, or Brodak primer - anything that starts to build up - I wet-sand with Dupont Prep-Sol, as suggested by Larry Cunningham. The paper still wears out, but much more slowly, and it does not clog or accumulate anything. The Prep-sol doesn't hurt the wood (no warps) and does seem to aid the sand paper in cutting the accumulating finish. In fact, you need to be careful how much or how long you sand, because you can easily remove too much.  However, the finish is smooth. The Prep-Sol dries quickly - in perhaps a minute - while sanding. The photo below (I hope) illustrates the satin surface smoothness, after sanding with worn #400 or #600 paper. The typical residue should be visible along the nose tripler and is removed simply by gently passing a cloth over the surface. Sprayed clear completes the gloss, even with just Preval canisters.

SK