Like so many other woodworkers, I used to hate sanding. In fact, many years ago, it was typical for me to spend many hours working on a project, only to get near the abyss of ruining a project by sloppy sanding, followed by applying a sloppy finish. The outcome: a sloppy project, and nowhere nearly as nice as it could have been — in other words, frustrating at best, and ugly at its worst. This was due to ignorance on my part — ignorance about what to do, how to do it, and what to use to do it well. In the end I learned better ways, and I now like the process about as much as doing anything else in the shop. It sounds crazy, right?
It is not that crazy, if you think about it; for it is the looks of the project that ultimately invite touching and feeling the wonderful surfaces, the nice curves and edges… But before I get sidetracked, I can word it better: Learn to sand properly, and the finished quality of your projects will jump to a new level! And by learning to sand properly, you will also gain appreciation for the careful sanding steps required between layers of topcoat you apply to your project. Ultimately, your dyes, your lacquer, your poly, etc., all your finishing materials will thank you, too.
The rule I now apply to my finishing projects is quite simple. If I take 100 hours to build a project, I allocate at least another 50 hours to the finishing process. This time includes sanding the wood, in preparation for the required sealing shellac wash coats, for example; then carefully sanding each layer of finish until I feel nothing but a smooth surface on the entire piece. The process is the same whether I am finishing a lid for small jewelry box, the box itself, of a huge dust cover for a large furniture piece.
The biggest discovery I made in tackling the proper finishing of a project, was finding the proper sanding paper. But not just any sanding paper. I finally, reluctantly, bought some of 3M’s 216U Fre-Cut™ Gold, 600-grit sandpaper; and now I buy it in sleeves of 50 sheets, from Homestead Finishing Products (Owner: Jeff Jewitt, the famous finishing guru). This paper is my secret weapon in a successful finishing process:
216U sanding paper.
As I mentioned, I buy the paper in 9″ X 11″ sheets, and then cut them to fit my sanding pads — each sheet gives me four pieces — I have never made a sandpaper cutting jig, as I find this method is quite simple:
Measuring to cut - not fancy.
I think that the edge of my 36-inch metal rule works great for cutting the paper to size. If you decide to do it this way, make sure the abrasive faces down, or your rule’s edge will be slowly worn away and you will no longer have a straight edge:
Cut with abrasive facing down.
After I finish applying a layer of coating, and the coating has cured or dried properly, I use the 600-grit paper on the sanding block to lightly sand all surfaces; the 216U is a long-lasting paper, and resists clogging with finish better than anything else I have used in the past:
Sanding thoroughly.
After sanding I then vacuum as much of the sanding dust as possible, and follow it with a thorough wipe-down using a moist paper towel or lint-free cloth:
Cleaning sanding dust.
This next step is crucial, and guaranteed to result in the smoothest finish on the project. Your fingers are extremely sensitive to imperfections on a surface; therefore, use them well, for they will reveal even the tiniest of bumps on the wood:
Feeling for the slightest "bump".
If needed, I will again sand the areas where “bumps” or imperfections still exist. By going through this entire process, I guarantee myself the best finished surface possible on my projects. If I can do it, I know YOU can, too! Take your time, and you will soon get wonderful results by sanding carefully, and patiently. And you will be happier with your projects.
Disclosure: I am a happy customer of Homestead Finishing. I have no interest in the company, other than their continued success.
— Al Navas
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About Al Navas
BTW, just read your post titled, “Feeling” the surface – sanding “properly” and you wrote, “It all starts with the initial sanding with 150 or 180 grit paper on the random orbital sander, to remove all tool marks.” Do you still use the orbital sander initially?
Jeff,
A big YES. The random orbital sander is still the workhorse, but the dust is collected very well by the ShopVac. It is an inexpensive solution to the sanding dust problem that results in almost zero sanding dust around the project.
I’m glad you like sanding so much. Maybe if I read your post over and over I can learn to love it too!
. Right now, I have a stuffy nose from sanding dust. Of course, I use an orbital sander for most of my work and only a little hand sanding. I have recently found the necessary vac adapter for my orbital sander, and it now sucks up the dust, so I think the biggest thing I can do now is to get a better dust mask and a overhead dust collector. After that maybe I’ll like sanding better. I enjoyed the post.
Jeff,
I love it, because it ensures I get the best results out of the finishing schedule. Now we know the sanding dust is bad news, and must be avoided at pretty much all cost (the overhead air cleaner is running much of the time while I sand, and at least two hours after). Some years ago I bought an adapter that lets me use the ShopVac attached to the random orbital sander, and now the bulk of the sanding is pleasant, but noisy. When I apply shellac, for example, and then sand primarily by hand, I might wear a respirator, or a filtered mask with only the front filters and without the solvent traps.
I am glad you enjoyed the write-up.