Tuesday, December 2, 2025

Sandpaper 101 – FineWoodworking

I don’t know any woodworkers who love sanding, however all of us would agree that it’s essential to the success of our initiatives. So it pays to determine easy methods to sand efficiently.

Whereas sanding practices haven’t modified a lot within the latest previous, many abrasive merchandise have. These new papers, belts, disks, and different abrasive media not solely ship higher outcomes, however they do it sooner, serving to us to get again to the woodworking duties we get pleasure from most.

We sand for a wide range of causes, utilizing all kinds of instruments. Belt-, disk-, spindle-, and drum-sanding machines are employed to form woods, and the abrasive grits they use are typically comparatively coarse. The subsequent sanding stage is smoothing—or making ready surfaces for a high-quality end—which is often carried out with random-orbit (RO) disks and flat papers, with finer sanding grits. Then there may be the sunshine sanding carried out to clean surfaces between coats of end, utilizing even finer papers and movies.

The sector of woodworking abrasives is a big one, which makes it unimaginable to check each product on the market. To provide you with the suggestions on this article, I performed in depth interviews with consultants on the main abrasives corporations and referred again to earlier product assessments in Advantageous Woodworking. I additionally leaned by myself expertise as a long-time skilled woodworker, and even on person evaluations, in addition to assessments performed by beneficiant of us on-line.

To scale down the scale of the subject, I overlooked the high-quality papers and movies used for grinding and honing hand-tool edges. These have been lined in previous articles and can little question be revisited once more on this journal. I additionally overlooked wide-belt sanders, as they’re principally industrial instruments present in large skilled outlets.

For the complete article, obtain the PDF beneath:


Adam Godet is an expert woodworker in Washington, D.C.

Ideas for Higher Sanding

Whether or not fairing a curve or flattening a tabletop, the proper instruments and strategies yield high quality outcomes

Hand Sanding and Energy Sanding Fundamentals

Sanding is likely one of the most necessary steps of any woodworking mission. On this mission video on constructing a bookcase, learn to sand flat surfaces, edges, and curves.

Sanding in Levels

Breaking apart the job eliminates drudgery, yields higher outcomes

Obtain FREE PDF

once you enter your e-mail deal with beneath.

View PDF


Related Articles

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Latest Articles