So, you think you know how to sand, eh?

sand

ing sucks, no one I

know

likes to do it, but you

know

what's worse than

sand

ing, spending a month building a project worrying about the nice finish and then moving into the house and when the light hits the top it looks like shit because it doesn't you sanded correctly. maybe you missed a point, flat surfaces may not be level and smooth, you may have those little pigtails or swirls in the corners or edges of the surface, they may be rounded or you spend all your time making the most visible areas nice and soft, but you neglected others.

Areas that you may not see as much but that people are likely to touch, like under the edges of tables, sanding can make or break your project just as much as carpentry or finishing, and there's a lot to learn if you want to achieve it. For the best results, this video will cover everything you need to know, from what grains to use to how you can improve your technique, including some things other videos and articles don't tell you. I really recommend staying until the end, you will definitely learn. something new now let's start with sandpaper in general, sandpaper can be divided into four different types: garnet, aluminum oxide, silicon carbide and zirconium.

Maroon sandpaper is the least expensive, it's effective for hand sanding, but it wears down quickly so I wouldn't recommend it for power. Sanders pay attention to the quality of the paper itself, many of the inexpensive garnet sheets are so thin that they tear too easily. Aluminum oxide is more durable, making it long lasting. In fact, it is commonly used to sharpen tool steel and most premium sandpaper made for woodworking is aluminum. rust and worth the extra price. Silicon carbide is durable like aluminum oxide, but more brittle, so the particles will fracture exposing new sharp edges. It is common in metal work, but for woodworking you are more likely to find it on cloth-backed belts and discs than you use on stationary machines; sanding sheets above 400 grit are probably also carbon carbide. silicon because they are marketed for automotive body work.

Occasionally, you can find zirconia or zirconia sandpaper sold for woodworking. Zirconium fractures differently than silicon carbide to expose sharper edges. It is called self-sharpening, but it requires a lot of pressure for fracture to occur effectively, so it is mainly used for metal. However, I sometimes see it mixed with aluminum oxide for woodworking sandpaper. Another option is a carbide sanding disc, made by a company called Dura. grit and come in some lower grit sizes. I like them for leveling and shaping because they can be quite aggressive. So many packs of paper records also seem to last forever.

In fact, I've almost replaced my thick paper discs. with a couple of reusable carbide discs, I'll link them below this video. While shopping for sandpaper, you'll likely see terms like open coat and matted open coat paper which has more space between the pieces of sand for dust to collect, so the paper doesn't clog Steroid paper has a coat in the sand to prevent resins and other things from sticking to it. Both are useful for woodworking, but sandpaper manufacturers don't use the terms consistently, so it's not always worth looking up. Those specific terms, my advice is to avoid buying the cheapest paper on the market.

Good paper is made from good, durable materials. Then read the instructions and make sure it specifically says it is for use on wood. If it is, it is most likely open layer. Now let's talk about sand. You can shape the wood with very coarse sandpaper just as you would with a rasp or file, that's where those coarse carbide discs come in handy, but for most woodworking projects I start with 80 grit. 80 is thick enough to level a less than perfect seam or to remove waviness and other marks left by routers, but 80 grit scratches are not so deep that they will take forever to remove later with finer grits and That's the name of the game when sanding, every grit removes scratches. left by the previous grain which is why you don't want to skip the grains too quickly.

You may

think

you're saving money or time by using just two grits of sandpaper, but it's not 80 grit, it removes material quickly but leaves moderately deep scratches behind to get rid of those scratches, you have to use the entire surface all the way to the bottom of the sandpaper. 80 grit scratches, obviously the finer the paper the shallower the scratches you will create, if those scratches are too shallow you will have a lot of work to do to wear that entire surface down to the level of the previous grit. Not only will this take much longer but it will wear down the sandpaper a lot more if you really get into the habit of working with the grits correctly.

You will find that the whole process is faster, more efficient and less expensive, as a rule of thumb, never skip grit more than 50 percent, meaning after 80 grit you won't go up to 120 grit, then you won't go over 180 grit and so on. 50 percent or less When deciding when to raise a grid is another important question, as I said, you want to braid the entire surface of the board to the depth of the previous grain. This is a great way to monitor your progress and make sure you're sanding. evenly cover the surface with pencil lines, don't press too hard with the pencil, just medium pressure, now sand with your 80 grit, make even strokes, don't stop and press harder on certain areas that seem to need more sanding, just cover all over the surface with even strokes at this stage the board probably won't be perfectly flat so you will find pencil lines in some low spots again, don't be tempted to concentrate more pressure on those spots to remove the pencil lines you want.

I will simply make the surface even more uneven, instead we will cover the entire surface with a pencil again and repeat the process with more even strokes. The goal is to lower the entire surface of the board to the level of those dips and valleys so that everything looks good. and flat, this is especially critical on tables and other surfaces that will be visible under light, when you can remove all the pencil lines with nice, even strokes, you will be ready to move on to the next grid, but before cleaning the board to avoid crosses. Contamination: If some 80 grit particles separate from the paper and remain on the surface, they could become trapped in the finer paper and continue to make those deep scratches in the wood.

It is always a good idea to brush or blow the surface before changing the grit. 80 was a good grit for initial flattening. The next level is 120 and now that the board is already flat the process will be easier, but I'm still going to cover the entire surface with pencil lines again using just medium pressure to help me judge. my progress so when these pencil lines are sanded, I'm ready for the next grid. Now, how high should you go with your grains? It depends on the finish you are using. The deeper the scratches left in the wood the darker your stains or dies will be if you want to add a good amount of color you can go from 80 to 120 to 150 and stop if you want a little less color you can go from 80 to 120 to 180 instead of 150. 180 is also a good level. for many film finishes, such as polyurethane or clear varnish, because they will build up thick enough to fill in those 80 grit scratches fairly quickly after a couple of coats, you will just feel the surface of the finish, not the finishes more fine and penetrating of the wood. like natural oils, they may not build up as quickly, in that case I would go from 80 to 120 to 180 and then end up with 220 or 240.

Of course, I'm talking about how finely the wood should be sanded before applying any finish. You'll also sand between coats of finish and in those cases you'll use something much finer like 320 or 600 because you just want to remove imperfections in the finish, like dust spots, without removing too much of the finish. I will list everything. These beans are in the description below the video so you can remember them. Another technique that some people like to use with solid wood is to lift the grain before finishing, this means applying a thin layer of water to swell the fibers of the wood and then when the water dries.

Those fibers will remain a little swollen or raised above the surface of the wood. Then you can smooth them out again with light sanding. This will ensure that the finish itself doesn't swell those fibers and you'll have a smooth, silky surface. Now everyone bothers to lift the grain, but I

think

it's a good idea, especially if you plan to apply a water-based finish and the time to do it is just before using the last grit of sandpaper before finishing, before moving on to some tips to help you improve your sanding technique. I want to mention one more tip about your grain choice.

Some people like to sand the end grain to a finer grain than long grain surfaces on a project, for example on a table or cabinet top you may have end grain. along an edge, if the long grain is sanded at 220, you may see on the end grain part at 320. The idea is that the end grain will naturally want to absorb more finish and therefore will appear more darker than the long grain when sanding the end. grain with a finer grit, polish those open fibers a little more so they absorb less finish and that will help even out the color a little.

Another place you can do this is on a raised panel where the profiles are at the top and bottom. end grain and otherwise may appear slightly darker than the profiles on the sides of the panel. Now let's talk about your sanding technique. Most of us sand a lot with a random orbital sander like this one, they work great if you use them. correctly, but I bet more than half of you are not using them correctly, for one you shouldn't hog them to make them work harder, while they will dig wood faster if you push them down, especially on an edge, it's a Bad idea for several reasons: First, it's harder on the sander motor and sanding pad, it will generate heat that will start to melt and destroy the little hooks that hold the sandpaper.

That heat will also cause the sandpaper to wear down more quickly. Too aggressive. Sanding can also cause bits of sand to separate from the paper and build up under the disc, creating hard little clumps, which is one of the causes of those little pigtail-shaped scratches that look horrible on the finish. You know you're pushing too hard if the sander stops. Spinning as it should, random orbital sanders rotate and oscillate back and forth at the same time to randomize the scratch pattern. If you press down too much, you interrupt the rotating part and the sander will basically vibrate.

You can test this by putting a mark on the edge of the pad and watching the motion change as you add or release pressure, it's also important to have good dust collection, not because you don't want to breathe in fine dust, which you don't. , but also because it allows dust to accumulate. under the sander is another cause of those little pigtails we all hate. Some sanders claim to have good built-in dust collection with bags and even filters. It's all nonsense. You need active dust extraction with a shop vacuum or dust extractor, trust me, the right dust.

The collection will make the sanding process more tolerable and produce better results. Finally, don't rely on your random orbital sander for every grit. It's always a good idea to sand by hand with a sanding block to achieve a final grip that moves with the grain, this will ensure that you get rid of the last few swirl marks that a power sander can leave behind. Many woodworkers neglect sanding by hand, but I think it's vitally important that not everything is done better with power tools. Hand sanding to get the final grain will make a big difference even if you do it only on the most visible surfaces of the project.

Finally, keep in mind that many of these techniques apply to solid plywood. A little different when you buy that nice oak, maple or birch plywood, you want to be careful not to sand through the ultra. thin veneer on the outside I don't use anything more aggressive than 180 grit on plywood and I'm careful with that, you can't really level a plywood surface, you get what you get, it's one of the downsides of the material if you try to level it with the techniques I just mentioned. You can sand through veneer. Just give it a quick sand with 180 or 220 and call it a day.

We could talk all day about sanding techniques. We may do a follow-up video later. People make more mistakes with random orbital sanders, but this advicevideo should really help you up your sanding game for your next project. See you next time. I have been using dura grit carbide sanding products for years and have yet to wear them out. The first ones I bought if I have a rough edge to smooth a corner, bevel or curve to shape, most of the time I'm looking for one of these cleverly designed tools, it's one of those workshop secrets I wish I had discovered a long time ago, check out the link below this video to see it for yourself wait don't leave yet if you're new here please subscribe and remember to ring the bell I would really appreciate it if you gave us the thumbs up or better yet leave us a comment I always read them and be sure to check out the latest issue of stumpynub's woodworking journal, always packed with tips, tricks, and tutorials designed to make you a better woodworker.