beerdog

I am going to start preping a Birch project for stain and poly. It is some stair hand rail, ballustrade, and trim. I am new to this and have seen two recommendations on sanding. First, from the finish expert at my hardwood dealer, was to go 150 and then 220. On the General Finish website they say to never finish hardwoods with greater than 180. Any opinions or advice on sand paper selection?

Jim Tank

If you ask 20 experts with twenty years experience each, who achieve excellent results every time , you will get at least ten completely different answers because they know how to get great results with their own methods and materials they are comfortable with. If you do sample test pieces whenever you are unsure, then you will know what to do and what not to do when you get to the final project. Some sand papers sand so good that you can use just three grits, other papers wear faster and do not have sharp cutting quality, so you have to use more grit steps. Folks seem to do well with materials that are availiable locally, because they can take back things that are crumby quality. Usually I steer novice finishers to Sherwin Williams stores. Good Luck and make lots of samples and make 3x5 cards that document your results for next time.

Leo G

I never go beyond 150 with hardwoods. And if you are looking for a darker stain I would even stop at 120. You will get most of the smoothness from sanding your first coat of poly, so that is where you need to worry about the sanding. In that case, after the first coat I would use 320-400 grit, then another coat or two sanding between coats.

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