Finest sanding grit before Arm-R-Seal

[Will Mullendore]

I’m closing in on the end of this maple/walnut bedside table and I’ll be prepping for finish soon. I’ve never used Arm-R-Seal before, but the recommended 150grit leaves some visible scratches that I’d like to sand out. How fine can I safely go before my first coat of Arm-R-Seal gloss?

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[Robert Engel]

I've sanded to 220. I always do a final hand sand when using an orbital, just for safety.

[John TenEyck]

You can go as fine as you want, certainly up to 325 or 400 grit, but there's no benefit going beyond where the scratches disappear. I would think they should be gone after 220 grit if you've done a good job removing the scratches with each sequential grit.

You definitely need to get rid of the scratches before applying the finish. I know that from vivid first hand experience.

John

[Edward Weber]

You can go as fine as you want, certainly up to 325 or 400 grit, but there's no benefit going beyond where the scratches disappear. I would think they should be gone after 220 grit if you've done a good job removing the scratches with each sequential grit.

You definitely need to get rid of the scratches before applying the finish. I know that from vivid first hand experience.

John

+1
The first coat does not require a "tooth" to adhere, that's only for successive coats to adhere to one another.
I've never had adhesion problems sanding to 400 or even higher.

[Andrew Seemann]

I tend to stop after 180, especially for film finishes (which is all I normally use these days). I once did a test, stopping at 120, 150, 180, and 220 (or something like that; it was a while ago) on different spots on a board before applying a coat of SealCoat and then a couple coats of Minwax fast dry satin poly (sanding at 320 between coats 1 & 2, and 2 & 3) I really couldn't tell between them. I think Fine Woodworking did a similar test (FWW #189 maybe?) with similar results.

[Will Mullendore]

Thanks for all the input. So far it looks like 220 is taking care of all the visible scratches I can see under my bright shop LED lights.