Thread: Sanding sealer & sanding

Hello blackbuttWA,
I have found 320 is sufficient just to get a smooth finish base. Wipe over with clean dry cloth and ready to go. The trouble with 4X steel wool is that you can get little bits in the grain. However, if you are using with danish oil etc (not over sanding sealer), I find the s/w brilliant and much better than using wet & dry paper. Hope this helps. John M.

As DO is my favourite finish I tend to avoid sanding sealer, preferring to wet-sand to fill pores/grain. However, for other finishes sometimes SS is the way to go.

With SS I cut back to bare wood after sealing, as most SS's I've used affect the timber colour if left on the surface. For this I use either the last grit I used on the bare wood or the next finest grit. What grit this actually is depends on the timber... I've gotten away with 320-400 on redgum at times, but have needed to go down to 1200(ish) for some ebony!

After applying the first coat of finish then I'll lightly sand again to remove raised nap.

I can't tell you the last time I used steel wool, mainly because of problems Drillit mentioned with broken pieces; rusty spots can develop under/in the finish over time. Got packs of 000 & 0000 that have been collecting dust on the shelf for years! Nowadays I use either good, fine sandpapers or UBeaut's EEE instead, depending on what I'm doing. (Paper for cutting gunge, EEE for matting a finish or final sanding.)

[As DO is my favourite finish I tend to avoid sanding sealer, preferring to wet-sand to fill pores/grain

.

I can't tell you the last time I used steel wool, mainly because of problems Drillit mentioned with broken pieces; rusty spots can develop under/in the finish over time. Got packs of 000 & 0000 that have been collecting dust on the shelf for years!

Pretty well sums it up for me as well. These days never use the stuff, dont even have any on hand. As for wet sanding it has to be bad before I get around to that these days,although I have plenty on hand should the need arise.

Surface prep is all done with my various enertia sanders or random obital sanders if you like the long name. I find that the sander produce results above its grit size by a few grades.
A bit of a short cut for me is to then buff the job with EEE before applying any finish. I'lll spend an hour or so buffing up the surface. This makes a superb base to apply any finish.

DO is the go and I apply two coats and rub down if required. Then onto wipe-on-poly generally 4-6 coats rubbing as required, no hard and fast rule.

I use a sanding sealer on laminated projects to stop the different coloured dusts contaminating other timbers, and to fill the grain. I will use sand papers up to 600# on the sealer until I start getting wood dust instead of the white powder. It may take up to four coats, dependant on how open the open grain is.
Jim

Excuse this ignorant question, but why use sanding sealer if you are going to sand it all off, back to the original timber?

Originally Posted by JillB

Excuse this ignorant question, but why use sanding sealer if you are going to sand it all off, back to the original timber?

Jill, the purpose of the sanding sealer is to fill the pores of the wood. When you sand back to bare wood, you get rid of the sealer that is not needed (the stuff on the surface), and leave the sealer in the pores, which should give you a level surface.

Ahhhh.... Thanks Chris

Originally Posted by JillB

Excuse this ignorant question, but why use sanding sealer if you are going to sand it all off, back to the original timber?

It will also hold together soft punky places on spalted partially rotted timber.

I was going to use SS to retain the colour in certain pieces.

eg...I finished a spalted Acacia & a Camphor Laurel bowl with Macadamia Oil & they both turned grey which I do not like.

Col

Originally Posted by BlackbuttWA

I was going to use SS to retain the colour in certain pieces.

eg...I finished a spalted Acacia & a Camphor Laurel bowl with Macadamia Oil & they both turned grey which I do not like.

Col

If you set those pieces aside to dry thoroughly and sand down through the gray, you can refinish.

I had a rather porous piece do the same when I put boiled linseed oil on it. I'm using up the linseed oil on tool handles and slather it over bowls that are not yet dry to set aside for slow curing.

My favorite finish is tung oil which will eventually build to a shine with enough coats. Most of my bowls I sand to 220, apply tung oil with a rag to the piece turning on the lathe. Let dry overnight and lightly sand with 400, sometimes wet with tung oil, then apply more tung oil with a rag. Let dry overnight then buff by using a dry old athletic sock while piece rotates on the lathe.

I also tried polyurethane varnish applied with a rag to the piece turning on the lathe. I was delighted to find that two applications a day apart with 400 grit sanding between gave a nice soft sheen.