When sanding What grit should you start with?

Should you choose to hand sand, you'll want to follow the same general process of starting with coarse grit sandpaper or sponge (80 grit is a good place to start) and moving through the grit range until you reach the desired level of smoothness.

What grit should you start with?

For auto repair and other metals, start with 60-grit paper if you need to sand down below the rust to repair deep scars. Then increase the grit to 120 to remove rust stains or shape body filler.

Do you start with higher grit or lower grit?

When determining your grit sequence, a good rule of thumb is to choose the finest starting grit possible to achieve your desired removal rate. This is because, while you could start with a lower grit, it will not only create extra work to compensate, but also will be a less efficient sanding process.

What should I start with sanding?

In most cases, 80-grit paper is a good starting point for sanding planed or shaped wood. Start with 100-grit if the wood is already smooth with no deep scratches, planer marks or other surface defects. Both 80- and 100-grit leave a network of fine scratches behind, so the next step is to sand with a little finer grit.

Is 40 grit coarser than 80 grit?

For heavy sanding and stripping, you need coarse sandpaper measuring 40- to 60-grit; for smoothing surfaces and removing small imperfections, choose 80- to 120-grit sandpaper. For finishing surfaces smoothly, use a super fine sandpaper with 360- to 600-grit.

Sanding Technique and Grits - 2 Minute Tuesday

What are the steps of sanding?

Can you go from 60 to 100 grit?

This grit takes out the scratch from 36-grit sandpaper, but does not remove much wood . 80 grit: Takes out the scratch from 60-grit sandpaper. This is usually the final grit for most standard hardwood floors. 100 grit: Takes out 60 or 80 grit scratch.

What is 220 grit sandpaper used for?

180 - 220 Grit: Fine. 180 – 220 grit is primarily used for the sanding finish or to sand in-between coats. It is also great for distressing! There are instances where you can use 180 to 220-grit to rough up a piece in preparation for paint, but you do not typically use these grits until after your first coat.

How long should I sand for?

Sanding a piece of furniture shouldn't take more than 5 minutes. When you picture yourself sanding a furniture piece, you might envision yourself sanding away with a small piece of sander for hours to get every bit of old stain or paint.

What grit should you sand wood before painting?

Sanding is critical to creating a smooth surface. For wood that is going to be painted, use 120-grit, followed by 150-grit. For closed-grain woods (such as Cherry, Pine, Maple, Birch or Alder) that will be stained with water-based products use 150-grit followed by 220-grit.

Which sandpaper is best for wood?

Garnet and Flint Sandpaper

Garnet is the best sandpaper for wood hand-sanding. Flint sandpaper is economical but not particularly durable. Flint is best for rough work on small projects and is used less commonly than many other sandpapers.

How do you pick grit of sandpaper?

Sandpaper grit is sized by a gauge number, with lower numbers signifying larger, coarser grits. For example, #24- or #40-grit sandpaper is a very coarse, rough sandpaper, while the #1,000-grit paper is extremely fine with very small abrasive particles.

How do you know if you sanded too much?

Begin sanding

When the pencil marks in the divot begin to disappear, it's time to stop sanding. You should only need to use a moderate amount of pressure to get the job done—if you're pressing down too hard, you're not doing it right.

How do I know when I've sanded enough?

The best way to know when you're done sanding is to scribble a light pencil line across your wood before you start. Once the line is gone, move up to the next grit. Repeat up to the highest grit sandpaper, then wet your wood with mineral spirits to confirm there are no remaining marks.

Can you over sand wood?

If you sand wood past 240 grit sandpaper, the wood dust becomes so fine that it starts clogging the pores of the wood. This prevents stain and finish from soaking into the wood properly, risking a poor finish job. Alternatively, if you sand too much in one single spot, you might create a divot in the wood.

Which sandpaper is rougher 220 or 60 grit paper?

Generally speaking, 30-grit and 60-grit papers are used for rough sanding, 100-grit to 150-grit sandpaper is for medium sanding, and 220-grit sandpaper is used for finish sanding.

Is 400 grit fine sandpaper?

180 to 220 Grit Sandpaper: Finer grit sandpaper is great for removing the scratches left by coarser grits on unfinished wood and for lightly sanding between coats of paint. 320 to 400 Grit Sandpaper: Very fine grit sandpaper is used for light sanding between coats of finish and to sand metal and other hard surfaces.

Can I go from 36 grit to 80 grit?

It is imperative not to skip more than one grit of abrasive at any time. Most contractors sanding sequences start at 36 grit; they skip the 40, 50, 60 grits, and go straight to 80 grit.

Can I go from 24 grit to 60 grit?

So, if you start with 16-grit, you cannot jump to 36-grit; you must go 16 > 24 > 36 > 60 > 80 on both machines. If you start at 24-grit, you cannot jump to 60; you must go 24 > 36 > 60 > 80 on both machines.

How do you know when to switch grits?

In general, you will want to use a finer grit than the one you used to smooth your initial rough surface. The rule of thumb is to move up 50% in the grit number. For example, if you started with P60 then moved up to P80/P100, you would continue with P120/P150 and then P180/P220 for a very smooth finish.

Can you sand back and forth?

Always sand back and forth with the direction of the wood grain (if possible). If you sand across the grain, you will likely end up with noticeable sanding marks at the end. If you end up with these marks, you probably need to remove them with 80 grit, then work your way thru the grits once more to a smooth surface.

Why does my sanding look uneven?

sanding with uneven pressure will cause lots of trouble. Areas sanded with high pressure will turn darker than the areas sanded with less pressure after applying the wood stain. This will cause uneven color shades and surface blotchiness.

What do sandpaper grit numbers mean?

The grit of sandpapers is a rating of the size of abrasive materials on the sandpaper. The higher grit number is equivalent to a finer abrasive, which creates smoother surface finishes. Lower grit numbers represent coarser abrasives that scrape off materials much quicker.