I am in the process of making a cherry sunburst tabletop. I veneered it with crotch cherry veneer, and it has turned out beautifully so far. Have not completely sanded it yet, though.

The problem is this: there are some tricky sections where the grain runs almost completely horizontally – parallel to the substrate – and it has a tendency to lift in large fibers and pull up when sanding – I fear that the fibers can actually lift out from the substrate completely, since this is very thin veneer. And I don’t want to sand through.

I have thought about sealing the wood before final sanding – but was hoping first to use an oil finish to “pop” the grain. The sealer will give a much flatter look. I tried a test piece with Minwax Sanding Sealer – a water based product designed for use under their oil-based finishes. It does an OK job, but probably won’t give as good a result as what I’m after in terms of bringing out the figure in the wood.

Should I proceed with the oil and use that as a sealer? Was thinking of sanding to 120 as best I can, then oil, then some further sanding before proceeding with further coats.

Looking for any advice here. I’ve spent a good bit of effort on the tabletop and want not to mess up the sanding and finish!!

Thanks,

JV