Sanding Pine

[Pat Moy]

Does anyone have advice on how to sand pine without having the sand paper gum up almost immediately?

[Brian Peters]

It shouldn't be gumming up your sand paper; is it kiln dried?

[Stephen Edwards]

Some species of pine, kiln dried or not, have a lot of "sap" in the lumber. I've worked with 100 year old heart pine boards that are so full of a turpentine like sap that will require you to frequently clean your sanding pads, belts, etc.. Sometimes, it's so bad you can't clean them, you just have to use a lot of them!

Down South we call that "fat lighter". Take a splinter of that wood that is causing your paper to gum up so badly and strike a match to it. Watch how quickly it will burn!

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Does anyone have advice on how to sand pine without having the sand paper gum up almost immediately?

Thats what hand planes where made for:D

[David Christopher]

wipe it down with DNA and soon as it is dry start sanding. you may have to do this a couple of times

[Neal Clayton]

and avoid the low grits if you're using a powered sander. 80-120 do more harm than good. start with 180 or so, even 220 if possible.

[Rich Enders]

Once sanded will the sap have an effect on finishes?

[Neal Clayton]

not unless you have very thick sap pockets that are bleeding through to the surface. that will be obvious (board has amber streaks in those spots and will be very sticky), so if you haven't noticed it yet you won't have anything to worry about.

[Corey Wilcox]

I just finished building a project out of some seriously sappy white pine and had this same problem. I tried all kinds of things and ultimately decided that there really was no great answer for it. What I did find helpful was to use less pressure, slow down if you're hand sanding, and to clean out the paper every few strokes. If you don't have too many knots to deal with I second the previous opinion on hand planing. Could save you loads of time, but if you have knots like I did you risk horrible tear out. Once you finish sanding you'll likely need at least a wash coat of shellac to keep the sap from bleeding through. Use de-waxed shellac if you want to topcoat with another finish.

[Richard M. Wolfe]

I find a random orbit sander has less paper clog than a belt sander or other pad sanders. Also using stearate coated paper (the white stuff) helps a great deal.

[Stephen Tashiro]

The thread makes me wonder (off topic) why the abrasive is attached to the paper. There are other schemes of polishing things where the abrasive is sprinkled on something and then rubbed with something else. I suppose if you put "sand" on a board and then used a machine to rub on it that 1) It would be a very dusty process and 2) It might embed some of the abrasive into the wood. Perhaps there is some variation of this process that might be useful - of course, I must admit that, as a kid, I liked to play in the dirt.