Next, inspect the piece in a light, and identify the defects. These can be anything from large dents and tool marks, to really thin scratches. PS. If you’re worried about making any floor sanding mistakes you see our guide to the top 5 Floor Sanding Mistakes & How To Avoid Them here. It’s totally DIY-able, but be warned, it’s really, really hard work. The sanders are really heavy and I just wouldn’t have been able to lift the machine out of the car and into the house on my own.
No polyurethene, shellac, lacquer, hardwax, or other type of wood finish. Also doesn’t hurt to make sure you don’t have any foreign matter on the wood before you start sanding. An orbital will drag anything hard along with it and leave marks. That sounds obvious, I know, but it’s always worth cleaning off the surface before sanding to make sure.
Set Up A Work Space And Wear Sanding Dust Protection
Minwax® preparation products are the first step to ensure your wood surfaces show their most beautiful colors and smoothest finishes. Never skip the Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner on projects you are going to stain. A sanding sealer is not the same as a wood conditioner.
Here’s one final tip about using any electric sander. Pressing on the tool could actually sand a rut in the https://liging.voog.com/blog/sanding wood or make the surface uneven. The exception are palm sanders that specifically say “random orbit”.
What Grit Sandpaper Should A Person Use?
To get the wood down to bare wood, you’ll need to do some sanding. Once the wood is wet, the marks will stand right out, and you’ll know if you need to keep sanding with the lower grit. You probably will see some marks from sanding; ignore those for now, you’ll remove them with your next grit sandpaper.