My two previous posts have outlined most of my philosphy for finishing wood. This last one will tie a couple loose ends together.
There are two (2) things that I have heard most often in my 50 years of finishing wood. The first were the compliments for the smoothness, brightness, clarity, and grain figuring in my finishes; and the depth of the gloss where it was appropriate.
The second was an admonition, often by the same people who just gave me that compliment, that I am wasting my time by sanding to anything past 220-grit because all I am doing is burnishing the wood and making it so smooth that a finish will not adhere to it.
My first post a few days ago mentions that I have spent these years discovering that most of the "conventional wisdom" is wrong. Nowhere has this been more true than the effect of fine sanding on the surface of a piece of wood.
The only reason that I have ever found for stopping at the 180 or 220 grits is when using a pigmented stain. The large stain particles need a place to lodge in the surface of the wood, and the coarse sanding scratches provided those places.
I have never had a problem with lacquer, oil, varnishes, or shellac sticking to a surface that has been sanded to 1000 grit or higher. If the finish didn't stick, it was because of contaminates or something other than the surface being too smooth. Analine and natural dyes work very well on the finer wood surface. The benefit is that the differential penetration between end and flat grain is more pronounced, and that accents the grain pattern. Fine sanding can bring out a pattern of colors in a piece of wood that would remain invisible on a coarser surface. Nothing accents the grain pattern and the chatoyance in a piece of burl like sanding to fine grits before applying the finish.
Along the way I discovered a couple other benefits from sanding to the finer grits. A higher gloss can be obtained with fewer coats of the finish, and that can be a good thing for lacquer and shellac.
Another benefit is the burnishing that takes place at the higher grits. Burnishing is the compaction of the wood surface, and that means a harder surface. The harder wood surface UNDER the finish film makes that film a more durable one. And, I have never had a finish come off because the wood was too smooth.
The "conventional wisdom" is that fine sanding is doing nothing other than burnishing the wood. While it is burnishing the wood, it is aslo refining the scratch pattern, and that improves the brightness of the surface. I know that I am removing wood when I can see dust in the air from a piece of 2000 grit used dry, or a slurry on the paper when using it wet.
That's my story, and as long as my finishes on both furniture and turned wood keep getting the compliments, I am not changing anything.
Don't expect any replies or messages for the next couple months. We are leaving Tuesday morning for an extended trip through the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida, and will not be home again umtil sometime in early June. See you then.
There are two (2) things that I have heard most often in my 50 years of finishing wood. The first were the compliments for the smoothness, brightness, clarity, and grain figuring in my finishes; and the depth of the gloss where it was appropriate.
The second was an admonition, often by the same people who just gave me that compliment, that I am wasting my time by sanding to anything past 220-grit because all I am doing is burnishing the wood and making it so smooth that a finish will not adhere to it.
My first post a few days ago mentions that I have spent these years discovering that most of the "conventional wisdom" is wrong. Nowhere has this been more true than the effect of fine sanding on the surface of a piece of wood.
The only reason that I have ever found for stopping at the 180 or 220 grits is when using a pigmented stain. The large stain particles need a place to lodge in the surface of the wood, and the coarse sanding scratches provided those places.
I have never had a problem with lacquer, oil, varnishes, or shellac sticking to a surface that has been sanded to 1000 grit or higher. If the finish didn't stick, it was because of contaminates or something other than the surface being too smooth. Analine and natural dyes work very well on the finer wood surface. The benefit is that the differential penetration between end and flat grain is more pronounced, and that accents the grain pattern. Fine sanding can bring out a pattern of colors in a piece of wood that would remain invisible on a coarser surface. Nothing accents the grain pattern and the chatoyance in a piece of burl like sanding to fine grits before applying the finish.
Along the way I discovered a couple other benefits from sanding to the finer grits. A higher gloss can be obtained with fewer coats of the finish, and that can be a good thing for lacquer and shellac.
Another benefit is the burnishing that takes place at the higher grits. Burnishing is the compaction of the wood surface, and that means a harder surface. The harder wood surface UNDER the finish film makes that film a more durable one. And, I have never had a finish come off because the wood was too smooth.
The "conventional wisdom" is that fine sanding is doing nothing other than burnishing the wood. While it is burnishing the wood, it is aslo refining the scratch pattern, and that improves the brightness of the surface. I know that I am removing wood when I can see dust in the air from a piece of 2000 grit used dry, or a slurry on the paper when using it wet.
That's my story, and as long as my finishes on both furniture and turned wood keep getting the compliments, I am not changing anything.
Don't expect any replies or messages for the next couple months. We are leaving Tuesday morning for an extended trip through the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida, and will not be home again umtil sometime in early June. See you then.
