final prep before finish

[Will Blick]

I was reading Lee Valley literature that states, scraping cuts the fibers of the wood, vs. sanding, which burnishes the wood fibers. The piece goes on to state, the difference on highly figured wood is very noticeable after its finished. Has anyone every compared the two methods and seen better results? noticeable?

[Conrad Fiore]

Here is a thread that you might find interesting. http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?25259-Sand-Scrape-or-Plane

[Will Blick]

Thank you Conrad, not sure how I missed it....
Great thread...the answer as is often the case, is "it depends" on many factors.... but scrapers seem to be the tool of choice when possible... makes perfect sense to me... as with many things in ww, there is lots of myths floating around, or sometimes very specific techniques for unique situations, which get generalized over time, then mistakenly become applicable to all cases...

[glenn bradley]

"Depends" is indeed a god answer. For penetrating finishes with little or no color added the appearance can be quite different on the same board. Try it out for yourself; take a setion of board long enough to provide you with a half dozen 4-5" sections that can be marked off. Prepare the surfaces differently and apply your finish. I have a few "sample boards" that I have marked with the formula for each variation. Comes in handy.

[Howard Acheson]

One of the woodworking magazines ran a test a couple of years ago. Part of a board was prepared by scraping and another part by sanding. Then a stain was applied followed by a coat of oil based varnish. Then another board was similarly prepared and just a coat of oil based varnish applied.

They then took the samples to a number of their staff both woodworkers and office staff and ask them to rate the look of both. The results were that neither preparation was superior to the other. In other words there was no difference. That's been my experience also.

[Harvey Pascoe]

One of the woodworking magazines ran a test a couple of years ago. Part of a board was prepared by scraping and another part by sanding. Then a stain was applied followed by a coat of oil based varnish. Then another board was similarly prepared and just a coat of oil based varnish applied.

They then took the samples to a number of their staff both woodworkers and office staff and ask them to rate the look of both. The results were that neither preparation was superior to the other. In other words there was no difference. That's been my experience also.

Why am I laughing? (supply your own answer!)

[Howard Acheson]

One of the woodworking magazines ran a test a couple of years ago. Part of a board was prepared by scraping and another part by sanding. Then a stain was applied followed by a coat of oil based varnish. Then another board was similarly prepared and just a coat of oil based varnish applied.

They then took the samples to a number of their staff both woodworkers and office staff and ask them to rate the look of both. The results were that neither preparation was superior to the other. In other words there was no difference. That's been my experience also.

I meant to add that you can verify these results by sanding part of a board and scraping or planing another part. Then dampen both areas and let them dry. I bet you will find that both sections will be equally "rough" from the grain rising.

[Harvey Pascoe]

You got to sand between coats anyway so what difference does it make?

[Pete McMahon]

Harvey
Laughing?
When a surface is finished say with lacquer, shellac or varnish, are you saying you could pick out which is sanded and or scraped?

[Howard Acheson]

>>>> You got to sand between coats anyway so what difference does it make?

That's not true with lacquer, shellac and sometimes waterborne or oil based varnish. Lacquer and shellac will "melt" into prior coats of the same finish so sanding for adhesion is not necessary. Sanding would only be required if there was some defect in the prior coat. If there is less than 10-12 hours between coats, waterborne and oil based will do not sanding for adhesion again, unless the finisher was fixing a miscue in the prior coat.