How to sand unfinished wood furniture

To obtain a good finish, the wood always requires good sanding. The sanding should be done properly before starting the finishing process. The purpose of sanding is to get a even, smooth and clean wood surface. The process of sanding should be done properly in order to eliminate the knife or machine marks and stains marks  or glue that arise during the process of making furniture. This sanding process is very important because some stains or scratches were left on the wood surface will appear more clearly after finishing process. The fact is lot of finishing problem is caused by the sanding process. When the problem is discovered after the finishing process is done, then to fix it we need to do re-sanding and re-finishing. It its tough work, wasting time, energy and materials. An unfinished product should be assured is completely meet the desired quality before the finishing process. 

To meet the desired quality standards then the sanding process should also be done in accordance with the correct process. Here are the things that must be considered in the process of sanding to the wood furniture:

  hand sanding on carved wood

1. Do sanding gradually sanding using sandpaper from coarse grade of sandpaper to fine grade sandpaper 

Each sanding is always going to leave the lines used sandpaper scratches. Scratch size depends on the grade of sandpaper is used. To remove the sanding scratches that the former will require subsequent sanding with finer sandpaper to obtain a surface with scratches that will not appear again in the finishing process. Selection grade of sandpaper on a sanding stage should not be jumping too far from the grade of sandpaper is used before, because it will lead to imperfect results. Wood out from the machine should be sanded with coarse sandpaper, starting with 80 or 100 grade, then followed by sanding with 120 grade sandpaper, or 150, followed by sanding with 180 grade sandpaper with, and if necessary continue sanding with 240 grade. Final sanding before finishing process is usually sufficient with sandpaper 180 or 240 grade. 

 sanding with orbital sander

2. Try as much as possible sanding by machine. 

There are many sanding machines are available to help the wood sanding to be done quickly and consistently. Many types of sanding machines have been made to facilitate the sanding in accordance with the form or shape of goods. The wide belt sander or a stroke sander is great for sanding panels. For the special shape there are also available the complex machinery such as: spindle sander, brush sander, edge sander, etc. To work with a small sanding or to touch-up work also has available hand sanding machine (hand sander). 

3. Recognize the types of wood 

There are many types of wood, each of which need to be sanded in different ways. Soft wood such as: aghatis, pine or sengon will make sandpaper to dull faster than hard woods such as mahogany, teak, oak, mende, etc. The properties of each type of wood are varying, then it should always be identified properly in order to make optimal sanding process. 

4. Sanding to do as much as possible when a component item
 

Sanding the components will be much faster and easier to do than when goods are assembled into ready-made goods. Therefore, sanding should be done perfectly before it will be assembled components. Sanding for the the assembled goods are so should only for touch up work to revise the workmanship missed job such as, cleaning glue, sand the putty, etc. 

 Check the unfinished wood with lamp

 check the sanding with stain

 

5. Use tools to help to check the sanding results 
 

To avoid waste due to the imperfect sanding should be a good check on the goods before continuing to the next process. To better check the sanding quality we can use light, directed to the surface of wood. The light will help us to better view to check the sanding result. We can also use thinner or thin stain applied to the wood surface to help to see the scratches or stains on the wood if any.