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Sanding
sanding wood
Staining wood series
Having a really smooth surface is critical to achieving highly attractive finish and sanding helps achieving that. Sand papers are available in all Indian hardware stores and will cost anywhere between Rs.5 and 10/-.
| Complete guide to wood staining
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Choose your sand papers
Sand papers are available in different grades. The grade mentioned in the rear of the sand paper refers to the number of sand grit particles per square inch. So, lower the grits, more is the roughness of the sand paper. Ideally, you have to start sanding with a lower grit sand paper and move upwards towards the higher grit papers. In essence, you need to have 4-5 levels of sanding before you can achieve that perfect smooth finish.
I normally use 80, 100, 120, 150 and 220 grit sand papers. Depending on the initial level of smoothness of the surface you need to choose the following :
- Whether to start with 80, 100 or 120 grit papers and
- How many levels of sanding is required
Each level of sanding would increase the degree of smoothness and will also reduce the scratches that were a result of the previous sanding level.
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| Basics of sanding wood |
3 key rules to follow
- Always sand along the direction of the grains. Never sand across the grain direction.
- Apply gentle and even pressure as you sand along the surface, Overdoing it might damage the surface.
- Wipe off the leftover dust particles using a rag cloth after every level of sanding.
- The not-so-key rule is to use a sanding block if required. It will ease the stress on the arms and will help evenly distribute the pressure.
For staining wood, surface preparation and in turn sanding is one of the most critical activities. Any blemish, or scratch on the surface will be distinctly visible making the whole staining process a failure. While it is a really tedious task, it would make sense for you to go through the inconvenience of sanding rather than to repent as you start staining.
Besides sanding, sealing is the other important surface preparation step which we shall look in the next post. Meanwhile, remember to enter your email address below just so you do not miss the rest of the posts.
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