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

sanding sucks nobody i know likes to do it but you know what's worse than sanding spending a month building a project fussing over the nice finish then moving into the house and when the light hits the top it looks like crap because you didn't sand properly maybe you missed a spot the flat surfaces might not be level and smooth you may have those little pigtails or swirls in the surface corners or edges might be rounded over or you spend all your time getting the most visible areas nice and smooth but you neglected other areas which you may not see as much but people would be likely to touch such as underneath the edges of the table tops sanding can make or break your project as much as the joinery or finish and there is a lot to learn if you wish to get the best results this video will cover everything you need to know from what grits to use to how you may improve your technique including some things other videos and articles neglect to tell you i really recommend sticking around to the end you're definitely going to learn something new now let's begin with the sandpaper itself generally sandpaper may be broken down into four different types garnet aluminum oxide silicon carbide and zirconium garnet sandpaper is the least expensive it's effective for hand sanding but it wears quickly so i wouldn't recommend it for power sanders pay attention to the quality of the paper itself a lot of the inexpensive garnet sheets are so thin they tear too easily aluminum oxide is more durable so durable in fact it's commonly used to sharpen tool steel as well most premium sandpaper made for woodworking is aluminum oxide and it's worth the extra price silicon carbide is durable like aluminum oxide but more brittle so the particles will fracture exposing new sharp edges it's common in metal working but for woodworking you're more likely to find it on the cloth backed belts and discs that you use on stationary machines sanding sheets over 400 grit are also likely to be silicon carbide because they're marketed for auto body work occasionally you may find zirconium or zirconia sandpaper sold for woodworking zirconium fractures differently than silicon carbide to expose more sharp edges it's sometimes called self-sharpening but it requires a lot of pressure for that fracturing to happen effectively so it's primarily used for metal however i sometimes see it blended with aluminum oxide for woodworking sandpaper another option is a carbide sanding disc these are made by a company called dura grit and they come in a few lower grit sizes i like them for leveling and shaping because they can be pretty aggressive they also seem to last forever as long as many many packs of paper discs in fact i've all but replaced my coarse paper discs with a couple reusable carbide discs i'll link to them below this video as you shop for sandpaper you're likely to see terms such as open coat and sterated open coat paper has more room between the bits of grit for the dust to collect so the paper won't clog up steroided paper has a coating on the grit to prevent resins and other things from gumming it up both are useful for woodworking purposes but the terms aren't consistently used by sandpaper manufacturers so it's not always worthwhile to look for those specific terms my advice is to avoid buying the cheapest paper on the market good paper is made from good long lasting materials then read the instructions and make sure it specifically says it's for wood use if it is it's most likely open coat now let's talk grits you can shape wood with really coarse sandpaper just as you would a rasp or a file that's where those coarse carbide discs come in really handy but for most woodworking projects i start with 80 grit 80 is coarse enough to even out a seam on a less than perfect joint or to remove the ripples and other marks left behind by milling machines but 80 grit scratches aren't so deep that it will take forever to remove them later with finer grits and that's the name of the game with sanding each grit removes the scratches left by the grit before it this is why you do not want to skip through the grits too quickly you may think you're saving money or time by only using two grits of sandpaper but you're not 80 grit removes material quickly but it leaves moderately deep scratches behind to get rid of those scratches you have to wear the entire surface down to the bottom of the 80 grit scratches obviously the finer the paper the shallower the scratches it will create if those scratches are too shallow you'll have a lot of work to do to abrade that whole surface down to the level of the previous grit this is not only going to take a great deal more time but it wears out a lot more sandpaper if you really make it a habit to work through the grits properly you'll find the whole process is faster more efficient and less expensive as a rule never jump the grit more than 50 percent that means after 80 grit you would go no higher than 120 grit then after that no higher than 180 grit and so on jumping 50 percent or less deciding when to move up a grid is another important issue as i said you must braid away the entire surface of the board to the depth of the previous grit here's a great way to monitor your progress and make sure you're sanding evenly cover the surface with pencil lines don't push too hard with the pencil just medium pressure now sand it away with your 80 grit make even passes don't pause and push down harder in certain areas that look like they need more sanding just cover the whole surface with even strokes at this stage the board probably isn't perfectly flat so you'll find pencil lines remain in a few low spots again don't be tempted to concentrate more pressure on those spots to remove the pencil lines you'll just make the surface even more uneven instead re-coat the entire surface with pencil again and repeat the process with more even strokes the goal is to lower the entire surface of the board down to the level of those dips and valleys so everything is nice and flat this is especially critical on tabletops and other surfaces that will be visible under light when you can remove all the pencil lines with nice even strokes you're ready to move to the next grid but before you do clean off the board to avoid cross contamination if a few 80 grit particles separated from the paper and they remain on the surface they might get caught in the finer paper and continue making those deep scratches in the wood it's always a good idea to brush or blow off the surface before you change grits 80 was a good grit for initial flattening the next level is 120 and now since the board's already flat the process is going to 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 by the time these pencil lines are sanded away i'm ready for the next grid now how high should you go with your grits that depends on the finish you're using the deeper the scratches left in the wood the darker your stains or dies will be if you hope to add a fair amount of color you may go from 80 to 120 to 150 and stop if you want a little less color you may go from 80 to 120 to 180 instead of 150. 180 is also a good level for many film finishes such as polyurethane or wiping varnish because they'll build up thick enough to fill those 80 grit scratches pretty quickly after a couple coats you're just going to be feeling the surface of the finish not the wood finer penetrating finishes though such as natural oils may not build up as quickly in that case i would go from 80 to 120 to 180 and then finish with 220 or 240. of course i'm talking about how finely to sand the wood itself before you put on any finish you'll also sand between coats of finish and in those cases use something much finer such as 320 or 600 because you only want to remove the imperfections in the finish such as dust nibs without removing too much of the finish itself i'll list all these grits in the description below the video so you can remember them another technique some folks like to use with solid wood is to raise the grain before finishing this means applying a thin coat of water to swell up the wood fibers and then when the water dries those fibers will remain a little swollen or raised above the surface of the wood you can then smooth them back down again with light sanding this will ensure that the finish itself doesn't swell those fibers back up and you'll have a silky smooth surface now everyone bothers raising 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 right before you use your final grit of sandpaper before finishing before we move on to some tips to help you improve your sanding technique i want to mention one more tip about your grit choice some folks like to sand end grain to a finer grit than the long grain surfaces in a project for example on a table or a cabinet top you may have end grain along one edge if the long grain is sanded to 220 you might see on the end grain portion to 320. the idea is that the end grain will naturally want to absorb more finish and will therefore appear darker than the long grain will by sanding the end grain with a finer grit you burnish those open fibers a little more so they will absorb less finish and that'll help even out the color a bit another place you may do this is on a raised panel where the profiles on the top and bottom are end grain and may otherwise appear a little bit darker than the profiles on the sides of the panel now let's talk about your sanding technique most of us do a lot of sanding with a random orbit sander like this one these work really well if you use them properly but i'll bet more than half of you aren't using them properly for one thing you shouldn't hog down on them to make them work harder while they will dig out wood faster if you push down especially on an edge it's a bad idea for several reasons first it's harder on the sander motor and the sanding pad you'll generate heat that will begin to melt and destroy the little hooks that hold on your sandpaper that heat will also cause your sandpaper to wear out more quickly overly aggressive sanding can also cause bits of grit to separate from the paper and collect together beneath the disk creating hard little lumps that's one of the causes of those little pigtail scratches that look awful under finish you know you're pushing down too hard if the sander stops spinning as it should random orbit sanders spin and they oscillate back and forth at the same time to randomize the scratch pattern if you push down too hard you interrupt the spinning part and the sander will mostly just vibrate you can test this by putting a mark on the edge of the pad and watching how the motion changes as you add or release pressure it's also important to have good dust collection not because you don't want to breathe in the fine dust which you don't but also because allowing dust to build up beneath 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 from a shop vacuum or a dust extractor believe me proper dust collection will make the sanding process more tolerable and produce better results finally do not rely on your random orbit sander for every grit it's always a good idea to sand by hand with a sanding block for the final grip moving with the grain this will ensure you get rid of the last of the swirl marks that a power sander may leave behind a lot of woodworkers neglect hand sanding but i think it's critically important not everything is best done with power tools hand sanding for your final grit will make a big difference even if you only do it on the most visible surfaces in the project finally keep in mind that many of these techniques apply to solid wood plywood's a little different when you buy that nice oak or maple or birch plywood you have 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 veneered 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 discussed you may sand through the veneer just give it a quick sanding with 180 or 220 and call it good we could talk all day about sanding techniques we may make a follow-up video down the road about more mistakes people make with random orbit sanders but the tips in this video should really help you up your sanding game for your next project see you next time i've been using dura grit carbide sanding products for years and i still haven't worn out the first ones i bought if i have a rough edge to smooth a corner to chamfer or curve to shape more often than not i'm reaching for one of these cleverly designed tools it's one of those workshop secrets i wish i discovered long ago check out the link below this video to see for yourself wait don't go yet if you're new here please subscribe and remember to ring the bell i would really appreciate that give us a 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 it's always packed with tips tricks and tutorials designed to make you a better woodworker

Channel: Stumpy Nubs

Views: 148,491

Rating: 4.9788818 out of 5

Keywords: woodworking, stumpy nubs, tips, workbench, table saw, scroll saw, drill press, quick tip, band saw, bandsaw, lumber, hack, hand plane, sharpening, tormek, worksharp, diamond stone, water stone, wood turning, bowls, lathe

Id: qDYPGgjQmF4

Length: 13min 51sec (831 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 15 2021