Stew Denton
11-15-2022, 2:59 PM
Hi All,
I had to do some sanding this past week, but not much, and I learned a little at that time. What experiences have you had where you learned to sand better, faster, and with less work, etc.?
What I was doing was sanding some shelf support pieces that are going to be used in our pantry that I am building the shelves for. The little support parts were cut out of 2X4s to a size 5" long, 2&1/4" wide, and 1" thick. The 1" thick end grain was cut square, and then half of it was cut to a 45 degree angle to make them look less blocky. I needed to sand them because I cut the ends with my table saw, and they were a little rough. (I had used a plane on the other sides, and they needed no sanding.)
I did the first few one evening starting with 80 grit followed by 120 grit. The 120 was fine enough to do a good enough job for the intended use of the parts. The next evening as I was getting out the sanding stuff, I decided to start with 60 grit followed by 80, 100, and ending again with 120 grit.
I used about the same total number of sanding strokes with each of the two different sequences, and it took about the same amount of time with each sequence. However, the second set turned out quite a bit better than the first set. The 60 grit cut down the saw marks much better than starting with the 80 grit, and by not skipping any grit sizes each sequential cut size did a better job of smoothing out the scratches of the previous grit size than did skipping from 80 grit to 120 grit.
That said when I got through sanding using the 2nd sequence, I did touch up a small number of the parts with a small chunk of 120 where tiny rough spots remained, but these took just a tiny number of strokes. I did not touch up the ones from the first sanding method, although they needed it far worse than did the second set. I should have gone back and touched up that second set before putting on finish, but it is too late for that now.
I am thinking that in the future most of my sanding will be done without skipping any grit sizes. Thus I used half as many strokes with each the 60 and 80 as I had with the 80 alone on the first go round, and again half as many strokes with each of the 100 and 120 as I had used with the 120 alone on the first go round. I have several of the little rubber 3M sanding blocks, and have now marked each with a white paint pen by grit size so I can keep track of the grit size of sand paper on each sanding block.
At any rate, what things have you learned about sanding that make it easier, better, and faster. (Sanding is not one of my favorite woodworking tasks.)
Regards,
Stew
PS. (Added at 8:10 PM). Great comments below, thanks to all for the techniques that are listed below. I forgot to add that I was only sanding the end grain, both the end grain that was square to the grain and the end grain that was at 45 degrees to the grain. As mentioned above, I used a plane (old Stanley #4) to smooth the sides of the pieces, as I much prefer using a plane over any sanding.
I had to do some sanding this past week, but not much, and I learned a little at that time. What experiences have you had where you learned to sand better, faster, and with less work, etc.?
What I was doing was sanding some shelf support pieces that are going to be used in our pantry that I am building the shelves for. The little support parts were cut out of 2X4s to a size 5" long, 2&1/4" wide, and 1" thick. The 1" thick end grain was cut square, and then half of it was cut to a 45 degree angle to make them look less blocky. I needed to sand them because I cut the ends with my table saw, and they were a little rough. (I had used a plane on the other sides, and they needed no sanding.)
I did the first few one evening starting with 80 grit followed by 120 grit. The 120 was fine enough to do a good enough job for the intended use of the parts. The next evening as I was getting out the sanding stuff, I decided to start with 60 grit followed by 80, 100, and ending again with 120 grit.
I used about the same total number of sanding strokes with each of the two different sequences, and it took about the same amount of time with each sequence. However, the second set turned out quite a bit better than the first set. The 60 grit cut down the saw marks much better than starting with the 80 grit, and by not skipping any grit sizes each sequential cut size did a better job of smoothing out the scratches of the previous grit size than did skipping from 80 grit to 120 grit.
That said when I got through sanding using the 2nd sequence, I did touch up a small number of the parts with a small chunk of 120 where tiny rough spots remained, but these took just a tiny number of strokes. I did not touch up the ones from the first sanding method, although they needed it far worse than did the second set. I should have gone back and touched up that second set before putting on finish, but it is too late for that now.
I am thinking that in the future most of my sanding will be done without skipping any grit sizes. Thus I used half as many strokes with each the 60 and 80 as I had with the 80 alone on the first go round, and again half as many strokes with each of the 100 and 120 as I had used with the 120 alone on the first go round. I have several of the little rubber 3M sanding blocks, and have now marked each with a white paint pen by grit size so I can keep track of the grit size of sand paper on each sanding block.
At any rate, what things have you learned about sanding that make it easier, better, and faster. (Sanding is not one of my favorite woodworking tasks.)
Regards,
Stew
PS. (Added at 8:10 PM). Great comments below, thanks to all for the techniques that are listed below. I forgot to add that I was only sanding the end grain, both the end grain that was square to the grain and the end grain that was at 45 degrees to the grain. As mentioned above, I used a plane (old Stanley #4) to smooth the sides of the pieces, as I much prefer using a plane over any sanding.