Tips on Sanding Stained Woodwork
- Understanding what the grade or grit of the sandpaper does will help the sanding project go smoothly. The grit of the sandpaper basically tells the woodworker how many granules of sand are glued to the paper per square inch. The more granules per square inch, the finer the grade. The lower the numbered of granules, the coarser grade. Most refinishing woodwork will need both medium- and fine-grade sandpaper during the sanding process.
- Today's wood finishers have at their disposal a wide variety of natural and man-made sandpapers and abrasives. Natural materials include flint, garnet and emery; man-made abrasives include aluminum oxide and silicon carbide. The best type of sandpaper to use when sanding stained woodwork is sandpaper with hard, sharp-edged particles that are not easily ripped from the paper. Most woodworkers use abrasives such as garnet, silicon oxide or aluminum oxide when sanding stained wood.
- Sanding a flat wood surface is harder than it looks. To ensure a flat straight surface, the woodworker should use a sanding block with the appropriate grade of sandpaper. The sanding block should be held firmly and run over the surface with back-and-forth strokes. Each stroke should overlap the last, working with the grain of the wood. The sanding block must be kept flat against the wood's surface at all times, especially as it gets close to the edge of the surface.
- Flaws in the surface of the wood are magnified when the wood has a stained finish. Woodsmiths will run their hands across the wood surface to find flaws, or angle the wood and shine a light across the surface to reflect blemishes. Once the blemishes and flaws are located, they will use a wax or shellac stick of the same color as the wood to fill the defects before they continue the sanding and finishing process.