Surface prep - sander, planes, scrapers

[Jesus Aleman]

I was wondering what everyone uses to surface prep their project? I guess approaches may fall in the following categories:

1) Sanding (power or hand)
2) Handplanes and scrapers
3) Polishing (during and/or after application of finish).

I'm interested in opinions from people that use a combination of handplanes/scrapers and sanders to prepare and finish their work. Feedback on quality of surface, order in which tools are used (for example, handplane followed by 220 grit sanding, etc.), etc.

Thanks.
JGA.

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Jesus, I use a power planer and jointer for basic stock preparation.

Following glue up of panels I usually use a scraper plane, or hand held scraper to complete the surfacing.

During finish stages I stand between coats using 320 to 600 grit paper, depending upon what I'm doing.

After that, a quick rub down with pumice, followed by a coat of wax works wonders.

regards, Rod.

[Larry Fox]

Hey Jesus. I tend to use a jointer / power planer to dimension rough stock. After panel glue-up I tend to use a smoother or jack plane to get it real close, followed by card scraper then sanding starting with 150 (100 on parts not planed or scraped) and going to 220 (100, 120, 150, 180, 220). Hand sanding where the ROS won't go and ROS where it will.

On the finish side it really depends on what result I am trying to achieve.

Satin: 400 between coats to knock off nibs etc if necessary. 400 - 600 (lubricated) backed with cork-faced block to level. Wax applied with 0000 steel wool.
Gloss(Where I can't do a French Polish): 400 - 600 (lubricated) backed with cork-faced block to level. Working through the high grits with lubrication followed by polishing compounds.
Semi-gloss: Something between satin and gloss

[Marcus Ward]

Hello Jesus! (Aleman, German?)

I use hand planes as much as possible, only resorting to scrapers if hand planes won't do the job, and then only sandpaper if that's the only recourse for whatever kind of finish I want. I generally use shellac after that, and then wax. I sand lightly between shellac coats with steel wool. The wax is made by a friend of my wife, I think it's turps, beeswax, and carnuba. I never sand a surface before finishing if I can avoid it. I build a lot of furniture with square edges and the like though (mission style) so I can get away with it. Other styles, not so much.