My dad told me I was using the wrong kind of sandpaper for my furniture project

Honestly, I was refinishing an oak table last month and just grabbing whatever grit I had on hand. He came over, watched for a minute, and said, 'You're jumping from 80 to 220? You're skipping all the middle steps, that's why it looks streaky.' I felt pretty dumb. I went back, did the full progression with 80, 120, 150, then 220, and the finish came out perfectly smooth. Anyone else have a simple tip that fixed a project you were messing up?

3 comments

3 Comments

cora86320d ago

Welcome to the club, I once tried to stain over sawdust.

joelt7013d agoMost Upvoted

Remember when wadem89 said a perfect finish isn't the main goal, that hit home. My whole thing is getting a project done so I can actually use it, not staring at it for weeks. Sometimes that sawdust stain is just the mark of a piece that's lived a little, you know? I've got a workbench that's more stain and sawdust than wood at this point, and it works just fine.

wadem8920d ago

Staining over sawdust can actually work if you do it right. A light sanding first can blend it in pretty well. Sometimes a perfect finish isn't the main goal anyway.