First Time Wood Working - Sanding project and tools

   Honestly many of the first wood wooding projects for my generation (60+ years old) no longer exist.  We don't need to make book ends, bird houses, storage boxes etc. they are all now readily available for reasonable prices from all sorts of retail outlets. So a person doesn't automatically end up making things from wood any longer.

  However if you like making things and aren't that keen on glue/saw dust board or plastic you may still want to make some basic things for your home space.

  Last blog I talked about how to start wood working  by beginning at the finish. (end)

  Imagine I had no tools, but liked wood more than plastic and wanted to have a slightly individual project when I was done.

   I spent $2.00 on this plywood box. To end up with a nice finished project I have to take a couple real wood working steps.

 1st- I sanded this box with 100 grit sand paper.  I sanded all the edges and corners to make the box nice to touch and reduce the chance of splinters. 

 2nd- I sanded all the edges and surfaces with 180 grit sand paper. You might not believe it but that makes the box smoother (softer) to touch.

 3rd- I sealed the wood with shellac. Any of the many sealing products could be used. I like shellac because it is quick drying, fool proof to apply and compatible when dry with just about any other type of paint, stain or varnish you may then use.

all the tools needed for this project.

  Then I used the 180 grit to lightly sand the shellac, once dry.  Our house has forced air heating...there is always fine grit in the air that settles into the finish. Next I used some water based craft to paint to colour in the box top.

  Since the box had been sealed the water paint did not blot into the wood and only one coat was necessary to get good coverage.

  Once the paint dried I but another seal coat on top just to make it more difficult for fingers to leave smudge marks.

  Doing this project will help you or your child to decide if you like the feel and smell of wood and wood dust. Rounding over edges and making the wood box gentle on your hands is a great feeling.

  This was a  'one time', project requiring two sheets of sand paper, sealer and some craft paint.  

  There are many pre assembled  wooden projects out there just waiting for you to finish them. When I was an apartment dweller I finished a couple of big items, including a television stand on a drop sheet in the living room.  Larger projects can be sanded by hand but......

A random orbital sander can make a large job, quicker and easier.  As a rule, the most expensive sanders have better dust collect, make less noise and run more smoothly.    If you find you enjoy staining, painting or other wise finishing wood projects sanders are big help with a shallow learning curve.

  A finishing sander works more slowly than a random orbital, but runs with the grain and so will not leave tiny swirls in the wood grain like a random orbital can, if you aren't careful.

  The monster of the sanding family is the BELT SANDER.  

  The belt sander can be used to remove a great deal of wood in a short time. I bought one early in my career before I had hand plane skills and flattened many board. In fact I still have that sander and occasionally still use it, though it doesn't have any dust collection  capability.  It is pretty much and out door tool now.

  I used to make cutting boards and so had a bank of sanders with ever finer grits of sand paper mounted so that I could proceed from 60 to 600 grit by switching sanders.  

  There is a fascinating world of specialty hand held sanders  as well as machines out there for all types of unusual tasks. check it out.

cheers ianw

  

 

The Three Steps in Making Anything - Step Three - Finishing

 Step Three takes as much time as Steps One and Two combined often. In this case it took just a few minutes to sand the flower box and then only a few minutes to apply the stain and shellac.  What took time was allow the finishes to dry property. On large projects you can pour hours into sanding and finishing.

 There are hundreds of books filled with information about preparing wood for finishing. I am going to pass along a few points that I have learned and adopted.

 1. I always start with 60 grit sand paper. The material might appear to be ready for 120 grit right off but it probably isn't. I have reduced sanding time and use less fine grit paper by starting rougher than it first appears to require.

2 I have cabinet scrappers and hand planes, and still mostly use sand paper. It is what I learned on and know best. Doing what you know best is the most effective use of time.

3. Always sand with the grain, always.

4. When I work my way through the sanding process I use 60. 120, 220 and 400 grit on both hard and soft wood. I use a random orbital sander  until 220 and then I switch to a finishing sander. Often the 400 grit is done by hand. I do mostly small projects so hand sanding is realistic.

5. Buy good quality sand paper, it does last longer and I think it does a better job.

6. Don't ignore a belt sander when doing larger projects, but be careful if you are using course grit paper. 

7. When you are done sanding dampen the wood with water to raise the grain and sand some more.

Before you start putting on any finish rub you work down with a tack cloth or at least vacuum it.

If you are using a open grained wood like oak fill the pores if you want a great smooth finish.  I usually put on a coat of shellac and sand it off leaving shellac in the pores of the wood although there are other fillers on the market. I learned with shellac and know it best.

It the case of this project I stained the wood with a water based wipe on stain, I let it set for a couple of minutes and then wiped off the excess. Next I  gave it 24 hours to fully set and lightly sanded it. Even though I had raised the grain before there were a couple of spots that were slightly rough after I put the stain coat on.

I then put on a 1:2 ( shellac-alcohol) coat of shellac, sanded and followed with two coats of 1:1 shellac.  I allowed several hours for each coat to dry since it has been humid here this past week. Between coats of shellac I use an abrasive pad to knock down any bumps formed by dust. Steel wool also works fine though I find it shreds if I am not careful.

There are hundreds of books teaching, explaining and talking about sanding.  Like sharpening, find a system and products that work for you and stick to them.  There is nothing worse that messing up a project in its final stages with a finish the wrong colour, or that won't dry or something equally nasty.

If this was a baking project finishing is the icing on the cake, or the presentation, size and shape of the cookies. Like a fine finish on a wood working project Stage Three will not change whether the project works, it will change how it looks and what other people think of your work.

See, the icing on the cake can be a big deal. Eva's most recent cake creation for Clara's 4th birthday.

It was a prep, assembly and finishing project. Making things takes attention to all three steps.

cheers, ian

Half Sheet Finishing Sander

  I am showing my age I guess, but I remember when this type of sander was very common and popular in all types of woodworking shops.  Then for a while belt sanders seemed to be everywhere, I have a couple of them too, but mostly you see 5inch/8hole random orbital sanders most often now days.


  In this blog I am showing my age and my new sander.  It is a very fine tool, the quality of finish it provides is excellent and the integrated dust collection is so good that I don't have to hook it up to my noisy old shop vac when I am using it.  Last weekend I was in London and go talking with the Bosch Sales Rep and he was telling me that almost no one buys these sanders any more, mostly I suspect because they are twice as costly as a 5 inch random orbital and also somewhat less versatile.  I didn't buy it just to be different, I bought it because I remember the quality of finish I got from the sander I had some years ago, that I worked to death and replaced with a my first belt sander.


   I make cutting, cheese and presentation boards as well as small boxes and the like  so I am nearly always sanding on a flat surface in a good position and can go with the grain all the time.  Since the work is downward the weight of the sander is also not an issue. (by the way this sander is light and well balanced, I use it one handed sometimes) All those things make a finishing sander a good tool for my shop.   I also confess to using belt sanders, scrub planes and a variety of random orbital sanders as well as a 1/4 sheet finishing sander with 500 grit paper on it to making my boards.

This is a cutting board I just finished made from elm and cherry, finished mirror smooth using my new sander in combination with the other planes and sanders.