Hi all,
I’m a novice woodworker. I’m helping my friend build a desk and to save some money, we went with “1 in. x 6 in Premium Kiln-Dried Square Edge Whitewood Common Board” from Home Depot.
Once we got to sanding, we used a random orbital sander starting with 60 grit then to 80 then to 100 then to 120 then to 150. For some reason the wood ended up being smooth in its overall texture but very bumpy in accordance with the grain pattern. The darker parts of the grain pattern seemed to not sand down as much as the lighter parts so the bumpiness seemed to be caused by that. We tried using less pressure when sanding and I also upgraded from a Ryobi to a Dewalt random orbital sander halfway through our sanding and it seemed to help but it also seems like it’s more a problem with the wood.
What did we do wrong?
Replies
You haven't really done anything wrong. The HD website doesn't specify exactly what species of wood you got. It is either fir or pine. Bot of which are very soft woods; 660 or 420 on the Janka scale. You can find the scale at this link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janka_hardness_test .
What is happening is the softer wood between the growth rings is sanding faster than the actual growth rings. You have a couple of options. Sanding super soft wood like what you are using is best done by hand vs using a ROS. It's also a good idea to use a really hard sanding block. A piece of scrap wood works well for this. That will help keep the sandpaper from digging into the softer wood. A second option is to try and fix it in the finishing stage. If you consider an epoxy bar coat, self-leveling type finish, you can pour it on and let it level out your finish. It will also dry hard enough to stand up to writing and such that a desk will see. The downside is that epoxy is expensive. It would have been cheaper in the long run to spend the money to get a more appropriate harder wood for a desk. Since you describe yourself as a novice woodworker, there is the lesson to learn from the project. Woodworking starts with wood. Know the wood you are using and understand its strengths and weaknesses. Plan your project accordingly.
This is a tough one, in that you've started with best intentions, and gone down a landmine road. Big box lumber is horrible - not only the species they carry, but the way they allow the supplier to provide junk. Moisture levels are all over the place - and will continue to dry (usually warping in the process) while you're trying to build something
Take some time and let the wood acclimate to your shop... typically 4 days from a big box store. Get the wood straight and sand with a hard block at about 220 (on soft and open-grain woods, anything higher is wasted).
I agree with Beasley7 that there is only so much you can do with Douglas Fir or Pine; and the finishing process can help flatten-out the finish. A poly/mineral spirits mix may seep into the wood enough to eventually allow a full-strength poly to coat-over the lumps and bumps.
What those guys said.
Starting with 60 grit, and even 80, is way overkill. The only times I've use 60 grit is along the edges and corners when refinishing floors. On softwood you are just creating trouble.
Take a sample piece and use your sander with 120, then 220. See how it looks. And don't sand too much. It's not a surface grinder, it's a sander.
If that doesn't work, go with a sanding block.
I will not repeat the excellent advice given above, but would add that this is what hand planes and card scrapers are for. They don't cut the softer wood more than the harder wood because their nature generally prevents it.
You can get a very flat smooth surface on soft woods with a well set up hand plane. I use an ancient Indian plane that was the cheapest in a big box store some years ago. I honestly cannot recommend it, but for USD 30-40 you can buy very similar today. I had to learn to sharpen blades and then set up the plane properly, all of which can be learned off youtube, but now I have a tool that creates nice wispy shavings and does not leave tracks. It's not high on the upgrade list...
A hand-plane will do almost all the finish work for you, leaving you no need to use more aggressive grits. I would usually start with 240 after planing, if sanding is needed at all (and I don't consider myself good at planing - I just enjoy it!)
If you are keen on woodwork, then learning to sharpen, set-up and use a hand plane (No 4 smoother or no 5 Jack) is your next step.
If you can afford it, buy a good one (Lie Nielsen, Bridge City or Veritas) but if not, youtube is your friend. do practice a bit before trying it on your new desk tho!
All are great comments. In particular, the wrong type of wood was chosen; I'll bet that buying whitewood at HD didn't save you that much money over buying an inexpensive local hardwood such as ash at a lumber supplier. Don't feel too badly, though, it's a typical first project mistake, and the cool thing is that you are now woodworking!
The only thing worse than HD whitewood lumber in my area is Menards whitewood lumber. It's comical how badly warped some supposedly kiln dried wood is in their lumber racks. I've seen photos shared that make you laugh. You'd think that they would cull out such pieces, rather than leaving them in the racks for all to see.
Saw this somewhere else recently concerning redwood. As mentioned with softer woods the ROS can be a challenge. A really hard pad and good technique can help but, for woods that have very soft and very hard parts (pine, hemlock, redwood, softwood-plywood) a long block (10 to 12 inches) with abrasive glued on will get you flat with more consistency and less change of the rippling that a ROS will produce on such materials.
Hi all, thank you so much for all your advice and tips. Regarding the hand plane we actually did use a Stanley No. 62 Low Angle Jack Plane but then we had started off on the table bottom trying to use a router planer jig that failed miserably because I don't have a proper work bench and we didn't execute it well. Therefore we struggled to get everything super flat even with the hand plane. That's why we started off pretty aggressive on the sanding with the ROS. We will definitely take a different approach next time if we ever use soft wood again or really just avoid it all together for nice furniture.
"Nice furniture" and "softwood" are mutually exclusive, at least here in the UK ;)
Billywig,
That ain't necessarily so .... although I usually prefer various other timbers myself, I have made acceptable pieces of furniture from reclaimed redwood window frames & sills as well as from unidentified "whitewood" leftovers from who-knows-what. Some had panels in their cope & stick doors made from bits of softwood plywood rescued from under the cement mixing of builder men.
Here in FWW you'll find any number of fine pieces made of Eastern White Pine and various other softwoods. I quite admire this Andrew Hunter pine hutch, for example:
https://www.finewoodworking.com/2014/07/03/introduction-country-pine-hutch
There are also various chests made of the traditional six softwood boards - some with nails!
There is a tendency in Limeyland for amateur (and even some professional) workers of wood to make lumpen softwood things that might be called the Artless and Craftless style aka "Clumpy". I blame the terrible British woodworking magazines. :-)
Lataxe
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