Woodshop Projects And Surface Preparation – Part 5

After all of the initial sanding that you have performed on your woodshop projects, you will want to give each individual surface of your woodworking projects a final sanding by hand. This will get rid of any small scratches left behind from the use of the orbit sander and replace them with very minute and finer scratches that will run parallel with the grain of the wood making them virtually invisible.

Back up the sandpaper with a sanding block whenever it is possible, and using a palm sized rubber block works great for this application. You can also use a cork block or a wood block that has been faced with cork.

You are going to encounter a few more steps of your woodshop projects if you are going to be using a water based stain or finish.

After a final hand sanding of your wood working projects, wipe down the piece with a damp sponge. After the piece has dried, go over it with a very light sanding with the same grit paper that you used to finish up with. Try to take care to only remove any raised grain on the woodshop project. Be wary of any sandpaper that that is coated with stearates as this will inhibit many of the water based stains causing fisheyes in the finish. This is due to the fact that the stearates are waxy.

If you are going to use a water based finish on any of your woodworking projects, then check to make sure that they are compatible with stearated sandpaper.

Following these steps will provide you with professional results to each and every project that you plan on building, and will make the finishing process a real joy to perform as you will definitely be able to see the fruits of your labor.

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