Staining wood... Query

Hi,

I have been trying to stain a piece of rose wood. My challenge is that I am not able to completely remove the minute scratches that are the result of sanding... I started with an 80 grit sand paper and slowly worked my way to 100,120.150.220 and 320.. I was able to attain the required level of smoothness, yet the teeny tiny scratches bother me. Since am staining, I am concerned about using putty as am not sure of the color variation it might bring.

Any tip in this regard would be appreciated.

Cheers,
Woodooz.blogspot.com

maybe you missed sanding out completely one of the courser grades you used. If it bothers you, you probably have to go back to 120 and go through the grits again.

A couple of things come to mind. Are you sanding with the grain? If you are and are still not happy with 320 grit then go further to 600.
Cheers,
Jim

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mic-d

maybe you missed sanding out completely one of the courser grades you used. If it bothers you, you probably have to go back to 120 and go through the grits again.

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Mic-D / Jimbur,

Thanks. Am indeed sanding with the grain... Maybe I need to try sanding again and go up to 600... Will try that out. Am only hand sanding, hope that ain't a constraint ? This furniture is atleast 80 years old and am a little scared to do my experiments on it.

I'd avoid using something as coarse as 80 unless I had a really good reason to use it. I've never used 80 where it hasn't been a real hassle trying to get the scratches out afterwards. I'm guessing you were removing old finish? 80 grit is tempting, as it eats through old finish, but I'd just work a bit longer with 120 to get it off.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by q9

I'd avoid using something as coarse as 80 unless I had a really good reason to use it. I've never used 80 where it hasn't been a real hassle trying to get the scratches out afterwards. I'm guessing you were removing old finish? 80 grit is tempting, as it eats through old finish, but I'd just work a bit longer with 120 to get it off.

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I agree. Always make sure you remove the scratches from the previous sanding before you go on to the next.
cheers,
Jim

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jimbur

I agree. Always make sure you remove the scratches from the previous sanding before you go on to the next.
cheers,
Jim

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Hi, Thanks everyone... I went back to 120, and then id a bit of 150 and 220 and was able to eliminate the marks... Now I believe it was the 80 that might have made the already existing marks worse !

:)

Think of 80 and coarser more as "grinding" than "sanding". Glad you've got it sorted.