# Point of no return, on sanding & finishing ?



## SLING-N-SHOT (Jun 5, 2018)

As a new builder, for me to " somewhat " get the look of the fantastic slings I see posted, I am sanding up to

800 and 1000 grit, almost to an already polished looking surface, before applying any finish.

I wonder though ( I haven't applied any finish yet, but will soon ) at what point in the sanding process, does the wood

get so smooth, and maybe the pores closed, that it is harder for the finish to soak in, or even not at all ?

I love the look of the highly sanded, baby-butt smooth texture, but don't want to go past the point of no return, and the

finish I'm trying to apply, not work well, or be absorbed into the wood.

Has anyone experienced this, and maybe have any ideas at what grit level one should sand to, before applying the 1st

coats of finish ?


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## STO (Mar 2, 2018)

I've never found a point which is "too far" only a point of diminishing returns. Wood is really just an organic carbohydrate foam, and just like if you were to sand a larger pore foam, the sanding doesn't actually make the pores smaller just the macro surface more even. Someone could note exceptions, such as African Blackwood, the center of which is so dense and resinous it often doesn't require finish, but this is mostly because it comes with its own internal "finish."

If you wanted to experiment with the variety of levels of polish/burnish prior to applying finish, and its effects, my recommendation would be to use a lathe. On a lathe you can spin up a piece of wood trivially, and keep finishing higher and higher and higher very quickly. When I work on the lathe, I typically sand very fine and actually use a piece of cloth as my final "sanding" step. The result is something that looks like it has finish on it, but actually doesn't. It still will take whatever finish i use just fine, be it paste wax heat-forced in, danish oil, or whatever else.

I hope that helps.


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## SLING-N-SHOT (Jun 5, 2018)

Thanks for that excellent and very understandable reply STO, and since I have 2 lathes, I have no excuse whatsoever for not

trying out this great suggestion.


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## MakoPat (Mar 12, 2018)

STO nailed it...or finished it. Nails are no good for this kind of wood work.

Great question all the same. If we were so inclined we could likely have a complete sub-forum on finshing and stabalizing wood. It is fascinating to see all the various ways to finish, treat, or not finish (in rare exceptions like African Black wood.).

Also you may want to explore wood scraping in place of a lot of sanding. Cabinet scrapers save time and bring out figures really well. Not long ago (about a million years) carpenters did not sand nearly as much as we do now... they scraped. Modern sand paper is a great and reasonably inexpensive tool. But a good scraper is priceless ( not really, you can get them online for $10 usd.)
Swnd us pics, please.


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