Sanding to Smooth a Carving

[ten99j4]

I am looking for some input on what the best grit of sandpaper is to finish off smoothing carvings. I have used a padded emery board at the advise of a friend and it does okay, but it also is leaving some marks on the carving (ex. color and smudge). It is amazing how much better a carving looks with just a light pass of sanding to smooth out any hard marks and ridges that are not meant to be part of the carving.

[Woody1961]

It depends on the wood. I just finished a carving in basswood, and I sanded with a Dremel and a small barrel sander in coarse (probably 80 grit) and fine that is 120 grit. It was not enough. I then used a sanding pad down to 320 and when I painted I wished that I had wrapped some 400 and 600 grit around the sanding pad - not necessarily for the detail area, but for the bigger expanses as the paint (thinned with water) raises the grain of a wood like basswood or oak, but not so much on a harder wood like walnut or mahogany. I like the effect of sanding portions of the piece, but I love the way a piece looks with nice natural gouge marks too.

[markken5889]

To echo Phil's thought, I recently posted a stylized chicadee that came from a cherry burl. I ran about 6 different grits over it, from 80 all the way up to 800 before I thought it was finished.

Mark

[Steve Reed]

Personally, I only sand birds. After sanding through the grits (up to 400) I then rub it down with a brown paper scrap from a grocery bag. I never sand my other carvings. I only use a maroon scotch brite pad mounted on a mandrel in my dremel after carving. Seems to work for me. Not criticizing at all, just adding input.
Carve and have fun!

[BobT]

You should check out Lynn Doughty's videos on using the Flap Sander. I never sanded a carving until he showed that thing. It does work real nice.

[Josef]

If you want the super smooth finishes that I prefer, I use all the way up to a 1500 grit wet and dry paper. The harder the wood, with its densely packed fibres, the better the shine. I did a boomarang in a super hard desert wood and it came up to a high shine like polished agate. I also use 000 steel wool.

[Donsexton]

I start out with a 40 grit on a flex 41/2" side grinder, then work my way down to a 100 grit flap wheel on a die gringer.

[Donna_T]

Well, it depends, Adam? If it's a carving that should be perfectly smooth (like a bird or stylized) I run the gamut from 80 to 1000. I like Swiss sandpaper and like using a finishing film in 800-1000 or more grit for the last round. For most other carvings, I want some of my carving marks to show even on the finished carving--just so it will look hand carved. I especially like the little radial disks from 3M to go over a carving to clean it up (fuzzies and splinters) but still let most of the carving marks show. I use the white (soft) disks. Put them on a mandrel and run it in my little battery operated Dremel mini-mite on the low speed. Caution: don't use a more abrasive grit on high speed or you will simply sand the carving details smoothly away.

I also like to use a piece of brown paper bag all wadded up--rub the carving before and after painting with it to burnish away more raised grain. You can even cut litle square of brown paper bag and put them on a mandrel to go over a carving if you're more into power than hand burnishing.

Before I started using the radial disks, I was partial to using Scotchbrite filiment pad to go over a carving to get fuzzies removed. But the only drawback with it was sometimes little fibers from the Scotchbrite got stuck in my carving detail instead of removing the splinter.

Again, depending on what kind of carving you're doing, you may not want a perfectly smooth appearance--just want to get rid of the stray splinters. As you carve longer, you should have fewer rough spots to sand. Let us know what you find helpful for your carvings after you try most of these suggestions.

Donna_T

[ragiarn]

The key to getting a nice smooth finish is the to use multiple grits.
Grits between 40-100 are for removing lots of wood and leave significant grooves or scracthes. With these grits often going cross grain is more efficient in removing a lot of wood.

Starting with 120 grit you should be very careful to sand with the grain. Most of the work in removing telltale scratches is done with 120-150-180.

Usually once you get above 180 grit it only takes a few passes with the sandpaper going with the grain.

For better results starting with 220 wet the surface of the wood. This will raise the grain. Allowing for a much smoother danding. Once it dries the wood will shrink back and it will be extremely smooth.

You might consider using a sanding sealer before putting on the finishing coat.
Below are a few references

Why Use a Sanding Sealer Video ? 5min.com
QuestionHub.com - How much should I sand after sanding sealer and in between coats for polyurathane?
I find that it is rarely necessary to go beyond 300 grit.

[aulddiy]

Some great ideas here I could n't add to them. I sometimes use brown paper on a painted carving. On the darker colours it can give a really attractive finish, I think.