Having problems with a planed vs sanded surface.

[marty shultz]

I put a coat of minwax wipe on poly on a sanded mahogany panel. Then I glued a edge on the front of the panel that was intended to be flush with the top. I had a very slight mismatch of the two surfaces so I pulled out my hand plane and made them flush. I hand sanded the planed surface a little bit then applied another coat of finish.


When I look a the surface, I can tell a distinct difference between the planed area and the sanded area. I'm not sure if its because there is an additional coat of finish on the sanded area. Should I sand it down or keep applying finish?

[Wayne Lomman]

Marty, the extra coat of finish will make a difference. Not only that but the way you sanded will have made a difference as well. The first thing to do is very accurately apply an extra coat to the edge so that it catches up to the rest of the job. Observe the redcoat times and ten apply a full coat to the whole job. If this is not up to standard, its best to sand it all back and start again. Cheers

[Prashun Patel]

What grit did you sand with?
The more coats you add the less the difference will be noticed. However, when I have had to do this, I have resanded the whole panel.

If your poly has not started to build, I would give the whole panel an even light sanding with 220 then 400, then apply the poly.

I am assuming you haven't dyed or stained.

[Marty Schlosser]

Something that was not yet mentioned by anyone is the issue of dissimiliar materials between the panel and the edging you applied afterwards. If the panel was a veneered and not solid wood, then it's not uncommon for the thin veneer to accept finish much differently than solid wood, which is what your edging was most likely made of.

If the panel was solid wood, then please disregard my comments.

[glenn bradley]

I'm with Marty but, do not limit my opinion to solid versus ply materials. Although solid versus ply will appear very different in many cases, the chatoyance in mahogany (and many other woods) can present this problem with a solid to solid adjacency as well. Note the different appearance in the two bottom drawer fronts from different angles off center (and these are made from one board):

346647346648

The point is that what you are seeing may have less to do with surface prep protocol and more to do with figure. Now that I went and said that I should emphasize that similar surface prep protocol is very important to similar appearance results if the figure is going to be allowed to show well. :rolleyes:

I would plan ahead to take your trim piece from the same board and same orientation as the panel. However, if this were possible it might beg the question as to why one would use the trim at all :)

[marty shultz]

I'm with Marty but, do not limit my opinion to solid versus ply materials. Although solid versus ply will appear very different in many cases, the chatoyance in mahogany (and many other woods) can present this problem with a solid to solid adjacency as well. Note the different appearance in the two bottom drawer fronts from different angles off center (and these are made from one board):

346647346648

The point is that what you are seeing may have less to do with surface prep protocol and more to do with figure. Now that I went and said that I should emphasize that similar surface prep protocol is very important to similar appearance results if the figure is going to be allowed to show well. :rolleyes:

I would plan ahead to take your trim piece from the same board and same orientation as the panel. However, if this were possible it might beg the question as to why one would use the trim at all :)

I'm making a counter top that has a 1.4" lip on the front edge that is rounded over. That's the reason I needed to add a pc of wood to my 7/8" thick top. I thought I was being smart by putting a coat of finish on the counter while I made my trim pc. After I applied the trim to the top there was about a 1/32" mis-match in the two surfaces so, rather than sand it, I planed it which was the second mistake.

I sanded the entire surface down this morning. It only took 2 hours (I'm glad it was mahogany and not IPE!

Thanks for all the comments!