Even if it's a rough "coarse" you'll get a "fine" grade in--
--Micro Jig. Maker of the Grr-Ripper.
Work safer. Work smarter.
Hey, it's everyone's favorite part of woodworking.
Sanding!
And by everyone, I mean nobody.
Sanding and sandpaper is a big subject.
Big enough that there are actually entire books devoted to the topic.
Seriously. Think about that if people find your hobbies and interests odd.
But I'm going to limit this video to the most common things
you'll use in a home workshop.
All sandpaper, whether it's a sheet or for a power sander comes in
varying degrees of coarseness.
The bigger the number, the smoother or finer the paper.
And there's a lot of grades available.
Thankfully, you don't need them all for woodworking.
I recommend keeping just three on hand, and
in roughly these proportions.
220 and 80 grit combined make up about half my stock
and 120 grit makes up the other half.
Technically, 80 grit sandpaper is considered a medium grit,
but I consider it coarse in my shop because I don't use anything rougher.
It's great for quickly removing sections of wood.
This is especially useful if you, say, joined a couple of boards
together that aren't quite flush.
80 grit is aggressive enough that you can use it for shaping
and carving. It's also great for rounding over sharp edges.
Sometimes the faces of boards may have scratches or dents
which are easy to remove with coarse paper.
And 80 grit is useful for stripping paint and other finishes.
It might take a bit longer, but the sanding tasks I just
mentioned can also be done with 120 grit paper.
For some shaping tasks it's a better choice since it's
less aggressive you can maintain better control over the smoothing.
It's also a good option if you just need to ease over sharp edges slightly.
Unless there are major gouges, or dents, or uneven spots
120 is often the only grit of sandpaper I use on my
projects once they're assembled.
It's the best of both worlds. It evens out rough areas and
smooths the wood to a finish ready surface.
Of course, there are exceptions. For instance, after sanding with
120, I will sand wood even smoother with 220 grit paper
if I'm going to apply an oil finish such as tung oil.
But if you're going to apply lacquer or polyurethane
I see no need to waste the time sanding the wood
any further than 120.
The finish itself is what's going to give you its silky smooth feel.
And if you're painting a project, you can relax about almost all sanding.
Just sand out the dents and unevenness and imperfections,
and the paint will do the rest.
Keep in mind that most fine grit sandpapers are for finishing
and not usually used on bare wood.
Sure you can work your way through all the grits of sandpaper
all the way up to 1200 grit if you like, and you're project
will feel incredibly silky smooth, and you'll love it.
But you'll want to apply a protective finish to most projects
which will cancel out all that sanding work you did.
Again, an exception might be for tung oil or linseed oil
which will soak into the wood.
Note that I don't include Danish oil here which is a polyurethane blend.
I use 220 grit sandpaper for sanding between coats of
polyurethane finish so that each layer can bond to the next.
For lacquer, the finish I use the most, you don't need
to sand between coats because each layer fuses to the next.
After applying a few coats of lacquer, I lightly sand the
surface with 220 paper before applying the final coat.
This is really important for removing any drips and
especially all those little bumps and dust particles you can feel
when you rub your hand over the surface.
A light sanding before applying the final coat of any finish
is what separates a good finish from a great feeling finish.
Also, do the same thing for small painted projects--
toys and such. Lightly sand the paint before applying
a second or final coat, and you'll be amazed at
how different the surface feels.
Here's how to fold a sheet of sandpaper and extend
its life by keeping the grit from rubbing against itself.
The least expensive way to sand is to buy sheets of
sandpaper and sand by hand.
You can wrap the sandpaper around a sanding block,
or you could just use your hand as a sanding block.
But for most projects, hand sanding will get old really quick.
Instead, consider buying a random orbit sander.
This is the most useful and versatile sander you can own.
Its motion is called random orbit because it doesn't just spin,
but moves around in random directions helping to prevent
circular sanding scratches on your work.
It uses sandpaper disks that attach with hook and loop or Velcro.
These holes are there to suck up a lot of the sanding dust as you're sanding.
It either collects into this container, or you can attach a vacuum hose.
Sanding is a no brainer.
Just flip the switch, and move the sander around the surface of your work.
A random orbit sander can cover large surfaces such as tabletops
pretty quickly. Check your progress with you hand until it feels smooth.
Also, examine the wood from a low angle to see if there's any
imperfections you might have missed.
This is a belt sander. It's super aggressive, and I don't recommend
it for much woodworking. It's very easy to gouge your work piece
and often causes more damage than it's worth.
It's best for construction projects or very rough carpentry where
you need to remove a lot of material fast.
Or just for racing.
[lauging] Well, that was pretty fun.
That alone might be a good enough reason to buy a belt sander.
One way you can use it effectively in a woodworking shop is to
mount it upside down and take the work piece to it.
That'll give you a lot more control.
I have two benchtop sanders that are relatively inexpensive and
very handy to have. First, this combination strip sander
disk sander. If you're interested in getting a benchtop sander
this is the one I recommend. It's my go to sander for all kinds of tasks.
I often use the disk for shaping and removing material.
It's especially handy for sanding off ridges left by band saw cuts
and for sanding curved pieces down to exact lines.
One of its main benefits is that it has a tilting table.
This helps you keep your pieces square while sanding,
or you can tilt it to create bevels.
When I first bought this sander about 15 years ago, I thought
I would probably never have a need for this one inch belt sander
on the side, but as it turns out, wow, that is very handy to have.
You can use the table to help you sand wood, but mostly I tend
to sand freehand up here for hard to reach spots and even to carve shapes.
And it's really handy for grinding and sharpening tools.
One limitation is that you can't sand inside curves with a disk sander.
For a hand sanding solution, you could wrap sandpaper around
a dowel or a can, or you can get these various diameter
sanding drums that fit into a drill or a drill press.
You can also get pretty good results with a random orbit sander
if the curve isn't too tight.
A number of years ago, a viewer to this show sent me this
oscillating spindle sander which makes sanding inside curves a breeze.
It comes with a number of different sizes of spindles
that are easy to change out. It has a spinning up and down
movement to maximize all the paper and reduce circular
scratch patterns in your board.
Sanders are some of the safest power tools in the shop with
one exception. The fine sawdust that sanding creates.
Aside from the short demos in this video, whenever I'm sanding
I make sure that I have good airflow through my shop,
and I attach my shop-vac to the tool.
And I always wear a filter mask.
So, that just scratches the surface
ha, of sanding. There are all kinds of sanders I didn't mention and
even more techniques and uses for sandpaper.
What are your favorite sanding tips and tricks?
Leave them down in the comments so you can help out others.
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And if you're just getting started, be sure to check out the rest
of my basics series. Thanks for watching everybody. I'll see you next week.