Replies

1. 
   Kevin | Jun 11, 2003 07:15am | #1

   What grit of sandpaper are you using? It sounds like you might need to step down to a slightly courser grit and then once you get the stratches out you can go back to the finer grit to clean it up.

   A basic rule of thumb with finishing is that if you can see a problem before it's finished, applying a finish won't hide the problem.

   Regards,

   Kevin

2. 
   forestgirl | Jun 11, 2003 08:22am | #2

   I like Kevin's advice, with the following caveat:  When you go back up to the finer grit, do it in steps.  For instance, if you've been using 180 grit, and you find you have to go down to 80 grit to get the scratches out, then go through an intermediate grit on the way back to 180.

   forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl   ;-)

3. 
   SgianDubh | Jun 11, 2003 08:35am | #3

   molten, if you have a spokeshave, flat sole, and a well sharpened blade in it, one or two passes will remove all those scratches. After the single pass or two with a spokeshave, or even a smoothing plane used just right, and a couple of swipes with 180 grit paper and you're on the way.

   Polish, oil, wax, etc., all emphasise faulty preparation underneath, just as they emphasise premium preparation. Slainte.

   Website   I really prefer being the obnoxious, opinionated, loud mouthed, Sgian Dubh over that wimpy RichardJ

1. 
   jimmyk | Jun 11, 2003 02:17pm | #4

   I started with 80, then 100, 180 finally 220...they are very slight thinner-than-hair scratches, almost decorative looking. I need to try scraping and hopefully it won't chatter as the grain changes directions.

1. 
   parrothead | Jun 11, 2003 06:34pm | #5

   Molten, here are some steps that I do when sanding in general. Always vaccum or brush off of the wood between switching to different sandpaper grits, even one small/tiny grain of sand left behind can really scratch up the next step. If the scratchs are very minor like you say try wiping with a hot moist rag and see if you can "raise" the grain/fibers and then sand it out.

   Also when I want to get a really nice finish on maple or cherry I have a little bit better luck with garnet paper rather than some of the silcon or aluminum oxide papers, it is not as hard and actually wears down to a finer grit as you work with it.We are the people our parents warned us about. J. Buffett

1. 
   jimmyk | Jun 11, 2003 08:48pm | #7

   Thanks Mike, I'll give it a shot.

4. 
   jonsherryl | Jun 11, 2003 08:33pm | #6

   Molten, another tip you might want to consider is...after you get the scratches out and are walking down through the grits again...take the end grain on step further than the longitudinal surfaces. In other words, if you're taking the entire piece down to 220 grit, give the end grain a lick or two with the next finer grit you have on hand (in my shop, that's usually 300 wet/dry emery cloth.) End grain is more porous and taking it down an extra grit helps balance out the porosity a little.

   This seems to work well on the diffuse-porous woods, like maple, birch and cherry...not so well on the open grained woods, like oak and ash. For the latter, I'll sometimes give the end grain a coat of shellac and then rub it down to where the shellac is completely removed from the harder latewood tissue. This seems to help clog the pores, so they don't drink quite as much stain...Dyes also don't seem to leave as much pigment in the pores as do ordinary oil stains...so, if you're trying to achieve a fairly dark color, go with a dye.  

1. 
   jimmyk | Jun 11, 2003 08:49pm | #8

   Thanks Jon, I'll try that along with Mike's recommendation.

   Edited 6/11/2003 1:50:43 PM ET by molten