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Sanding - Before, After or Both?


new2woodwrk

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Do you all sand your raw stock before scrolling and then sand again afterwards before applying a finish or both?

Quite a few articles/books recommend sanding the stock before scrolling (80 g through 320) and don't seem to sand when the scrolling is completed but go straight to finishing?

I've tried to sand stock before scrolling, but then I have to sand again when the cuts are finished - this makes no sense to me.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance

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I too do both and you have to. Having a piece that is finished to high standards makes or breaks a piece in my opinion. I sand the wood to 180 grit before scrolling. After done I always sand to 220 grit to rid the fuzzies and give a nice feel to the wood. I use a compressor to blow the dust out of the frets and the grain lines of the wood and I believe this is important too. I do this always outside for it is never too cold or hot to do this. 

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I always sand my blanks to finish grit before cutting, usually to 220 grit. Then after cutting, I'll use the same grit to touch up the fuzzies. I don't always start at 80 grit though. If the blank was fresh of the planer, I'll just use 220. It's all determined by how rough the blank was before I started. If after cutting I think it needs more sanding I will, but I never go above 220, unless it's BB which I sand to 320.

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Do you folks prefer a random orbital sander or a finish sander? I have a single speed random orbital but I don't own a finish sander. I'm toying with buying one though. I'd like to hear the general consensus here. I used to own both but when we sold everything, they went away. 

R

 

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I plane my own lumber to dimensions I need. Most times I resaw boards to get me close and then hit the 16/32 drum sander. Now depending how much I need to sand I can start with 100 or 120 grit paper. Then finish with 180 and it is now at the dimension I need. Sometimes if I am using 3/4" stock and need to get to 5/8" I just run it through the planer a couple times and gets me closer and then to the drum sander. Now I lay out my patterns on the board utilizing the most lumber I could so I may have a couple different patterns and just work them into the board. Less waste this way. I then lay blue painters tape on entire board and glue my patterns down. I rough scroll each piece out using either bandsaw or scrollsaw. Now I then take to drill press and using a larger bit I drill most holes. If i need more detail holes I switch to a smaller bit but largest I can use without ruining the pattern lines. I always have a sacrificial board on the drill press table and constantly rotate it or move it around so that when I drill the pattern out I have a backer under it so not to pop splinters out on the back side. To me this is important to for people to look back there and not see huge blowouts. 

After I cut pieces I strip the blue tape and the pattern comes with it and is easy to do. Sometimes little pieces need to be taken off and I use a exacto knife for that. Now I usually take all pieces out side and I sand both front and back with a porta cable sander and 220 grit paper. After this I use my compressor to blow all the dust out and I had mentioned this before being I use red oak mainly I need to blow the dust out not only the frets but also the grain of the woods. Or else the caked up dust will be ugly when I dip in Danish oil. Here is the finish ( Porta Cable #330 palm sander or block sander as also known)sander that I have been using for many many years and own a couple. Easy to change paper because I buy pre cut paper for this sander as well as my random orbital sanders.  https://www.hmres.com/site/images/articles/1d31830b-dc2c-4800-8d2f-8db4.jpeg

 

See the source image

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I sand before and after, also sand while cutting, if there are significant fuzzies on the back.  I just keep a block sander with 150 grit at the scroll saw for this.  This was recommended in Patrick Spielman's book on beginning scroll sawing, which is what I used to learn scroll sawing (no internet back then, and didn't know any local scrollers).

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51 minutes ago, octoolguy said:

Do you folks prefer a random orbital sander or a finish sander? I have a single speed random orbital but I don't own a finish sander. I'm toying with buying one though. I'd like to hear the general consensus here. I used to own both but when we sold everything, they went away. 

R

 

I have a nice Makita finish sander. It never gets used. I have two Porter Cable 333 random orbital sanders. They aren't made anymore but have lasted for  in fact one is a spare for when the first one dies. All my projects get sanded by one. I have the sander permanently hooked up to a Shop Vac with a Dust Deputy in between. 

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12 hours ago, new2woodwrk said:

Do you all sand your raw stock before scrolling and then sand again afterwards before applying a finish or both?

Quite a few articles/books recommend sanding the stock before scrolling (80 g through 320) and don't seem to sand when the scrolling is completed but go straight to finishing?

I've tried to sand stock before scrolling, but then I have to sand again when the cuts are finished - this makes no sense to me.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance

I sand before the fragile cutting so avoid vibrating small pieces out .I will take a whole lot less sanding this way and chances of finding of vibrated pieces on the ground are Nile111111111111111                                                                                                                           

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