For the hand sanding, one of the irreplaceable tools is sanding block. A sanding block makes it easier to hold the sandpaper, maintain flatness of the surface and prolonges life of the sandpaper. Surface on the sanding block that sits on the sandpaper should be slightly resilient. A cardboard, felt pad, cork pad or a rubber pad can be glued on a sanding block in order to become resilient. For large and flat surfaces, use soft padded sanding block. The padding will help to prevent scratching the wood surface by grit caught under the sandpaper. For more delicate and curved surfaces, use very soft padding like a thick piece of foam padding or sponge covered with sandpaper. This kind of padding will shapes itself to the curves, so pressure will be firm and even. For the most sensitive surfaces, the best solution is cushioned padding. It will eliminate pressure providing light abrasion of surface. In the case when crisp edges are essential, use a hard pad. Soft pad will round over the edges, but hard pad keeps the edge square. From the other hand, never use sandpaper to attempt to do the work of an edge tool.

Sandpaper is rated by grit (number of abrasive particles per square inch of the paper’s surface). Good quality of sanding require using progressively finer pieces of sandpaper (for example: 120-grit, 150-grit, 180-grit and 220-grit; or 80-grit, 100-grit, 120-grit, 180- grit and 220-grit). This procedure, called Going through grits, allows each progressive piece of sandpaper to remove the scratches from the previous one. Sanding process usually starts with coarse or medium grit sandpaper and proceeds through finer grits. The moment of shift from smaller to larger grit number is a matter of experience. Basically it is the moment when the entire surface has a uniform look and feel and when you see that further sanding does not improve the sanding surface. For preparatory sanding and levelling off you should start with 80-grit sandpaper. For close grained wood the first coarse sandpaper should be a 120-grit. The final, finest grit depends on the type of wood and type of finish. For final smoothing, hardwood requires higher grit number than softwood. If you will paint the project, you can stop on 120 or 150 grit. For varnish or shellac, 180-grit sandpaper is enough for final sanding. For most delicate work, you should go up to 220 or 240-grit sandpaper. The very fine and extra fine grits are used for between-coats sanding. These recommendations are very general because the grit progression depends on the wood type and project construction. Each woodworker builds their habits based on experience.



