How to Refinish Wood Furniture - Sanding

Sanding is one of the most difficult steps in refinishing wood furniture. In order to do it properly, all planning, cutting, and forming should be completed before beginning to use the sand-paper. Sanding is not done to form or shape wood, but to refinish its surface. In no circumstances should sandpaper be used in place of cutting tools.

Kinds of Sandpaper

The term "sandpaper" is essentially a nickname given to a wide variety of abrasives. These abrasives, or "sandpapers," tend to be either very fine or very coarse and are produced by bonding, or gluing, graded sizes of abrasive material to a paper or clock backing.



You may want to check out this post to help you find the strongest wood glue.

The common types are the natural abrasives such as flint and garnet and the manufactured abrasives such as aluminum oxide and silicon carbide. Further identification of abrasives follows:

■ Flint or Quartz, which has a yellowish cast, is an inexpensive abrasive that is commonly used for the hand sanding of woods.
■ Garnet, reddish-brown in color, is harder, sharper, and better for most woods, especially harder woods. It is long-lasting and fast-cutting.
■ Aluminum oxide is a manufactured abrasive that is either reddish-brown or white in color. It’s used for both hand and machine sanding.
■ Silicon carbide is shiny black in color, almost diamond hard, and very sharp. It is used for sanding lacquers, shellac, and varnishes. It is also used for sanding between finishes and is made in wet or dry types.



Abrasive materials come in chunk form which must first be crushed into fine particles and sorted. These abrasive grains pass through screens of different sizes. For example, one screen may have 36 openings per inch while the next screen may have 40 openings per inch. The grains that pass through the screen with 36 openings and not through the next are numbered 36. The higher the number, the smaller the grain and, therefore, the finer the sandpaper. Abrasive papers are sold in many forms including sheets, discs, and belts. The common material used in the wood shop is garnet paper in 9- by 11-inch sheets. Most household "sandpapers" come in sheet form from 80-180 grit.



Careful sanding is the first step in refinishing a beautiful new piece of painted furniture. Skipping this step could make it hard for the wood to hold a stain, and thus ruining your refinishing project altogether. All it takes is a little elbow grease to get a super smooth wood surface that you’ll be proud of. Good luck!

Keywords: Abrasive Materials, Kinds of Sandpaper, Refinish Wood Furniture
Writer: David Crader