Ugh … sanding.
After all of the exciting ripping, crosscutting and joinery, your project has gotten to the point where surface preparation is critical in order to make your project shine under a perfect finish.
However, there are few woodworkers who list sanding as their favorite shop activity. So, for many, there’s a point at which they will sand to and then call it a day. Just smooth enough to make the finish look good but not too much.
So, this week, at what grit sandpaper do you stop at for bare wood on your project? The listings for grit size are in CAMI ratings, so if you use the P rating scale, you can do a quick conversion on this table of grit equivalents.
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Wow, I’m surprised at the results here. Why don’t people sand so high? It is the tool you’re using to sand with or something else?
Personally I use one of the Festool Rotex sanders which makes the job quite easy, but also hand sand and scrape some parts as well as necessary.
I actually kind of enjoy sanding my project before finishing.
It lets me inspect every inch of the surface for anything I might have to fix and it is a nice transition from building to finishing. Sounds kind of crazy I know, but it is the truth.
Thanks Tom.