Sanding ?

[kajmom]

Well, thanks to all the wonderful help on this board I have "almost" finished my first project; the spoon. I did it out of maple and I am quite pleased with it.

But I have a finishing question. I sanded it with 100, and now I'm using 220. It is smooth except for a few spots where the grain is raised and "fuzzy". Do I need to go back to the rougher sandpaper and work it out, or go finer and it will go away?

I already dried it in the micro (worked great) and I should be getting flaxseed oil today.

Thanks for your patience.

[Larry Marshall]

Any sandpaper, of any grit, will smooth any degree of roughness as long as you rub long enough :-)

The rationale of varying grit is the minimize the rubbing. If the problem you're talking about is rougher than the scratches left by the 80grit paper, the most efficient approach is to use the 80grit until its gone, moving on to finer grits to remove 80-grit scratches.

Cheers --- Larry

[tucker1931]

Kajmom, keep using the rough stuff till it has no more bumps in it, then go 220 and take out most scratches, I then use 400 and then on to 600 for the finakl sanding, when the scratches are all gone and it feels really really smoth, you should be there. In some cases I spend much more time sanding the darn thing than it actually takes to carve it. Check out the new ones I posted today, there's a lot of hand sanding in those 4.
Cliff

[Claude]

There's one additional step to make as smooth as a baby's b***. After you use paper down to about 400 grit, carry the spoon over to the sink and get it wet all over. Back to your workbench and dry the spoon with a hair dryer. The spoon will now be rough again from the raised wood fibers. Once it's dry, re-sand with a "used" piece of 400 grit sandpaper. When done, head back to the sink for another wetting and then drying cycle. Do this around 3 or 4 times, and it will finally end up after wetting and drying without any raised wood fibers; it will still feel smooth. At this point you can apply the finish...

And if you aren't sure, try it on a piece of scrap wood and see if it works for you.
Claude

[kajmom]

Thank you all once again. I'll run out tomorrow and get more sandpaper.

Tucker1931, I have been looking at your current spoons and went back in the archives to see those too. They are beautiful and I'm trying to tell myself that mine "may" look as good as yours someday if I practice, practice, practice! It's nice to be able to see what I should be working towards. It was very lucky for me that the March showcase was spoons!

May I ask another question? I bought the flaxseed oil. When I'm ready to apply it, how? In a plastic bag with a little oil and "marinate" it? Brush the oil on with a pastry brush? Apply with a washcloth? (Can you see where my comfort zone is ? )

[tucker1931]

Kajmom, I just put a little in the bowl of the spoon and then with my dainty itsy bitsy fingers I just rub it onto the spoon generously, I work in the basement so I hang them by the handle and each day for four days I give them another good rub down.
Cliff