Sanding and Finishing Wood Projects:

A quality finish is impossible to attain if you don't prepare the wood properly. Many woodworkers dread the preparation steps, rush through them, and end up with a poor finish as a result. Others spend more time and energy than they need to scraping, sanding, patching, filling, and sanding some more. Both extremes are due to a lack of understanding about what really needs to be accomplished when it comes to surface prep and finishing.

The most glaring examples occur when the woodworker and the finisher are different people, and they fail to communicate properly. This situation is common in house construction, where cabinetmakers and trim carpenters pay scant attention to the little things they can do to make life easier for the finisher.

The usual cause of overpreperation is the belief that sanding to 400-grit or higher produces better results. The wood looks better when sanded to 400-grit, so why shouldn't the finish be correspondingly improved?

When you have control of a project from beginning to end, you'll find that it pays to start thinking about the finish in the beginning. In fact, the old wisdom holds that a good finish starts with the selection of the lumber itself.

There are 4 steps in preparing wood for finishing:

Step 1: Selecting, cutting out, and shaping the lumber

Many potential finish problems can be avoided with proper care and attention at this stage.

Step 2: Sanding or smoothing the surface

This is the most unpleasant operation for most woodworkers, so knowledge of the tools and some thought about what you're trying to achieve can go a long way toward reducing the drudgery and improving the end result.

Step 3: Dealing with glue that gets on the surface of the wood

Glue spots on the surface of the wood may be nearly invisible when the wood is dry. But rest assured, they'll show up as glaring light splotches when you apply the finish -- any finish. Great care must be taken to get rid of any and all surface glue by sanding and/or scraping to avoid this beginner mistake.

Step4: Correcting surface imperfections in the wood

Such as dents, gouges, cracks and splits. This step could be called "the woodworkers eternal quest for a wood putty that takes stain." But none such putty or filler exists -- I've looked. Put in the effort to correct these issues without using filler and your projects will be better for it.