why?

[TBoomz]

seems so many sand prior to applying finish. Is it really necessary? With fresh knives [planer] or hand scraping and tight grain, why not just put on finish of choice, sans sanding.? Does sanding enable a finish to, stick, better?

 

[Mike Davis]

I often scrape wood and apply my finish without sanding.

I think sometimes sanding is a safety net that makes folks feel better due to a lack of skill or a shortcut that actually wastes time. I use very fine sandpaper between coats to add some tooth to the surface.

 

[Oka]

Unless the planer can plane perfection, sanding is still required. Often variations in the grain will not plane smooth and that will require sanding. In general, sanding allows you to really inspect every inch critically and make sure the finish is consistent to the standards of the project. remember, WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get). If you have a piece prepped to perfection then, the finiah applied is going to look great. At least that has been my experience.

 

[Roy G]

Ron, try an experiment with planing, scraping and finishing vs. sanding and finishing. Regardless of how you prepare the wood, the final finish will need some final smoothing with either real fine paper or one of those woven finishing pads. And then you can always buff it out if you need a mirror finish.

Roy G

 

[bob vaughan]

Sanding smears the wood surface equally all over the project. It eliminates shiny, streaked, or dull areas that contrast to a distracting degree when applying a transparent finish.

 

[sawman101]

I often scrape wood and apply my finish without sanding.

I think sometimes sanding is a safety net that makes folks feel better due to a lack of skill or a shortcut that actually wastes time. I use very fine sandpaper between coats to add some tooth to the surface.

Uh oh, I spend a lot of time sanding before I cut my work. I also scrape, often after I've cut pieces on the scroll saw. No matter which blades I select, there will always be tiny splinters needing cleaning up. I'm not crazy about sanding, but I've got 5" ROS, 1/2 sheet, 1/4 sheet, 4 stationary belt sanders, 2 portable belt sanders, 3 disc sanders, 2 1" belt sanders, sanding devices for different shapes and contours, many boxes of sanding papers, plus my various cabinet scrapers. Because many of my items are decorative, like clocks, I do my best to have a quality finished product. Besides having a DC system, I also have an air cleaner hanging from the ceiling. And now a cheap -plug for air cleaners; when I'd walk into my shop, I would most often start to cough from the dust hanging in the air from my last visit. The air cleaner has been very effective in making the shop air cleaner, with the major portion of airborne dust produced by sanding operations. Some time back I purchased a canister dusk mask from Klingspors, but am often negligent in wearing it.

 

[walnutjerry]

A machine planer will leave a pattern of high and low "marks" which relate to the round head straight knives----much like waves in the ocean except they will be consistent in distance between the high and low. If one knife sits higher in the head it will show up as a deeper valley(low). A finish will telescope that appearance whether it is clear finish or paint. Helical heads are a different story and I do not have that so I can not relate to the surface it leaves. Hand planes are yet another story----Mike can explain that much better than I could I believe. A well tuned card scraper will leave a surface silky smooth, I have seen that. Regardless , most use sandpaper to rid the surface of the planer marks. This is just a bit of education I got while working with a millwork company.

Jerry

 

[bob vaughan]

Sanding is also required to get rid of helical cutterhead tracks

 

[TENdriver]

Personally, I hand plane the tracks. Sometimes I will use a scraper.

I really don’t like the noise or dust from power sanding.