The Golden Rule of Sanding

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standy99
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The Golden Rule of Sanding

#1

Post by standy99 »

The golden rule for choosing your sequence is to never skip more than 1 grit.

For example, if you start with P80, and need to finish at P240, rather than using every grit from P80 – P220, you can do P80 – P120 – P180 – P240. This sequence cuts out P100, P150 and P220

The below picture tells a thousand words.

Image

I usually go P100 - P120 – P180 – P240 - P400 - P600 - P1200
Noting I don’t skip the P120 as P100 is the coarsest grit.


Below is a good list of wet and dry Grits (noting it does go up to several thousand )

Image

Hope this helps and happy to hear other examples



(above is for timber as G10 I’m going a lot higher than P1200)
Im a vegetarian as technically cows are made of grass and water.
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WilliamMunny
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Re: The Golden Rule of Sanding

#2

Post by WilliamMunny »

Just to add to this good post for people not sure:

The idea of sanding to higher grits is to take the “scratch” marks from the previous sand paper you used. P80 sand paper leaves large scratch marks due to the size of the grit. So you need something fairly course, P120-P150, to sand out those scratch marks. You could use P220 but it would take a very long time.

Hope this helps.
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Re: The Golden Rule of Sanding

#3

Post by Ramonade »

I might be a maniac. I usually have a 80 or 100 belt on my 1x30 grinder, and then hand sand from 120 to 5,000 or 10,000.
I do small jumps in grit for the coarse ones, like 120 - 180 - 240 - 320 - 400 - 600 - 800 - 1,000 - 1,200 - 1,500 - 2,000 - 2,500 - 3,000 - 4,000 - 5,000 - 7,000 - 10,000
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WilliamMunny
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Re: The Golden Rule of Sanding

#4

Post by WilliamMunny »

Ramonade wrote:
Sun Jun 26, 2022 2:52 pm
I might be a maniac. I usually have a 80 or 100 belt on my 1x30 grinder, and then hand sand from 120 to 5,000 or 10,000.
I do small jumps in grit for the coarse ones, like 120 - 180 - 240 - 320 - 400 - 600 - 800 - 1,000 - 1,200 - 1,500 - 2,000 - 2,500 - 3,000 - 4,000 - 5,000 - 7,000 - 10,000
I generally use 180 on my 4”x36” sander. Anything courser seems to tear through wood very fast. I use 80 on my spindle sander attachment for my drill press. It seems to work well and not tear through wood too quick.

Does anyone have issues with finer, 1500+, sandpaper getting quickly filled with fine saw dust? I feel like mine does after 30 seconds of sanding and becomes useless.
Endura AUS-8, Manix 2 S30V, Alcyone BD1N, PM2 Micarta Cruwear, Native 5 Maxamet (2nd), Para 3 Maxamet (2nd), Magnacut Mule, Z-Wear Mule, BBB 15V Manix 2, REC PM3 10V Satin, Dragonfly Salt 2, GB2 M4.
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standy99
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Re: The Golden Rule of Sanding

#5

Post by standy99 »

WilliamMunny wrote:
Sun Jun 26, 2022 3:58 pm


Does anyone have issues with finer, 1500+, sandpaper getting quickly filled with fine saw dust? I feel like mine does after 30 seconds of sanding and becomes useless.
Are you using wet and dry… quick wash/rinse in water. I usually have 3 sheets and wash them a few times. Ok to use still wet (I usually wipe them off with a rag)
Im a vegetarian as technically cows are made of grass and water.
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legOFwhat?
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Re: The Golden Rule of Sanding

#6

Post by legOFwhat? »

Great topic! I generally progress through the grits without skipping. I've taken scales up to 30k, according a pen blank sanding kit, but I'm not truly sure I could tell the difference in between 8k and 30k finish. 3k (wet) is about as high as I go nowadays, then off to the buffer.
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Ramonade
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Re: The Golden Rule of Sanding

#7

Post by Ramonade »

Finer sandpaper is actually too thin to use the shooshine method efficiently. I still use it for the curves of a handle, but I use a bigger angle to maintain a good pressure without tearing the sandpaper appart

The buffer is a necessary tool.
I went that high for several reasons. The main one being that I don't have a buffer, the second that I wanted to see how high I could go. Ive sanded several test pieces to 2k, 5k and 10k. I could notice a difference, even if it wasnt enormous
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standy99
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Re: The Golden Rule of Sanding

#8

Post by standy99 »

Ramonade wrote:
Mon Jun 27, 2022 12:07 am
Finer sandpaper is actually too thin to use the shooshine method efficiently. I still use it for the curves of a handle, but I use a bigger angle to maintain a good pressure without tearing the sandpaper appart

The buffer is a necessary tool.
I went that high for several reasons. The main one being that I don't have a buffer, the second that I wanted to see how high I could go. Ive sanded several test pieces to 2k, 5k and 10k. I could notice a difference, even if it wasnt enormous
Stick a piece of sticky tape (painters tape) underneath the thin sandpaper and you can shoeshine all the way up to whatever :winking-tongue
Even put a piece twice as long as the sandpaper and fold it over so your holding only the tape….
Im a vegetarian as technically cows are made of grass and water.
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Xplorer
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Re: The Golden Rule of Sanding

#9

Post by Xplorer »

Great topic!

I do most rough shaping of metal with 60 grit and rough shaping handle materials with 80 grit. From there I go to 120 grit for both metal and handle materials. After that I use more grits for metal than I use for wood and other handle materials.

For metal I use 180, 240, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1200, 1500, 2000, 2500, 3000, 5000, buff with blue compound.
For handle materials I use 180, 240, 400, 600, 1200, 1500, 2000, 2500, 5000, buff with white compound.

Norton Black Ice sandpaper is really nice to work with but it's expensive. At only $22 for a pack of 50 sheets the sandpaper from Combat Abrasives is a hard deal to beat.
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Re: The Golden Rule of Sanding

#10

Post by Bolster »

This is a good slap in the face for me. I am guilty of skipping grits, but will stop doing it after readng this thread. Thanks Mr. Standy the Sander!
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Re: The Golden Rule of Sanding

#11

Post by burlyspyder »

WilliamMunny wrote:
Sun Jun 26, 2022 3:58 pm
Does anyone have issues with finer, 1500+, sandpaper getting quickly filled with fine saw dust? I feel like mine does after 30 seconds of sanding and becomes useless.
I do a LOT of sanding at higher grits. I have a vacuum line set-up by my sanding station and if the abrasive gets filled quickly, I flip the vacuum on and clean the belt/paper/disc. Extends the usable life of my abrasives quite a bit.

-burly
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Other: D2, White#1, Blue#2, SuperBlue, VG-10, 204P, 20cv, s30v, s35vn, s45vn, s90v, HIC, TC71
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Re: The Golden Rule of Sanding

#12

Post by Xplorer »

With fine grit sandpapers (800 and higher) a little water keeps the sandpaper from loading up. If I'm sanding a blade (or any metal) I use a small amount of WD-40 instead of water to keep the sandpaper from loading and to keep my sanding motion smooth.

Another thing I do (on flat surfaces) to make sure my finished surface is one uniform grit is I alternate sanding directions. I'll sand one grit in the direction of the length of the blade and the next grit at a 45 degree angle to the blade. This way I can see all of the scratch marks from the previous grit and I know when I've removed all of them. The harder the material is the more important it is to alternate sanding directions. This is too difficult to do on rounded surfaces IMO but works well on flats.
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Re: The Golden Rule of Sanding

#13

Post by Bolster »

Xplorer wrote:
Wed Jun 29, 2022 11:21 am
This way I can see all of the scratch marks from the previous grit and I know when I've removed all of them.

Ah, clever. Thanks!
Steel novice who self-identifies as a steel expert. Proud M.N.O.S.D. member 0003. Spydie Steels: 4V, 15V, 20CV, AEB-L, AUS6, Cru-Wear, HAP40, K294, K390, M4, Magnacut, S110V, S30V, S35VN, S45VN, SPY27, SRS13, T15, VG10, XHP, ZWear, ZDP189
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Re: The Golden Rule of Sanding

#14

Post by standy99 »

Xplorer wrote:
Wed Jun 29, 2022 11:21 am
With fine grit sandpapers (800 and higher) a little water keeps the sandpaper from loading up. If I'm sanding a blade (or any metal) I use a small amount of WD-40 instead of water to keep the sandpaper from loading and to keep my sanding motion smooth.

Another thing I do (on flat surfaces) to make sure my finished surface is one uniform grit is I alternate sanding directions. I'll sand one grit in the direction of the length of the blade and the next grit at a 45 degree angle to the blade. This way I can see all of the scratch marks from the previous grit and I know when I've removed all of them. The harder the material is the more important it is to alternate sanding directions. This is too difficult to do on rounded surfaces IMO but works well on flats.
Try
Image

Smells better than WD40
( You will go inside smelling more like a farmer then a mechanic ;) )
Im a vegetarian as technically cows are made of grass and water.
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Xplorer
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Re: The Golden Rule of Sanding

#15

Post by Xplorer »

standy99 wrote:
Sun Jul 03, 2022 8:59 am
Try
Image

Smells better than WD40
( You will go inside smelling more like a farmer then a mechanic ;) )
I will look for it. I've never seen that brand. I wonder if it's available in the states. I'm always game for testing another spray lubricant.

I don't mind the smell of WD-40 actually. It's vanilla. Literally, they add vanilla scent to it. I used to work for an oil company that made all sorts of oil additive and oil derived chemicals products. My job was teaching automotive technicians about chemistry interactions and how to perform various services using the correct chemistry. On my first tour of the main laboratory I was checking out all of the beakers, bottles and test tubes filled with various chemicals they were testing. Most of the labels indicated things you'd expect in an oil/fuel lab. They were labeled with names like ether, butene and polyetheramine as one would expect. Then to my surprise I came across one that was labeled "apple scent" and I laughed. It looked very out of place. But, when I asked the head scientists about it he said they experiment with every pleasant scent imaginable in an attempt to make each product either smell good or just smell less horrible. Then he said, "you know, like the way WD-40 uses a lot of vanilla."...until he said that I didn't know. Now I only smell vanilla every time I spay WD-40.

The true reason I use WD40 for sanding is that it's easy to find and cheaper than good quality penetrating oils. It's ok for temporary rust prevention as well. For a penetrating oil or a spray lubricant that lubricates well and has the right oxidization stabilizers to prevent it from turning gummy over time and the correct ion charge to properly protect metal parts from oxygen exposure I've never found anything better than "in-Force" from BG Products. But, it's not easy to find.
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Re: The Golden Rule of Sanding

#16

Post by Ramonade »

@Xplorer you are only speaking about sanding steel or other metals right?
Because I hand sand wood to high grits, and even if the kind of sandpaper I get for 2k to 10k sanding might work better wet, I haven't really experimented with it by fear of water getting too much into the wood.
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Re: The Golden Rule of Sanding

#17

Post by standy99 »

Ramonade wrote:
Sun Jul 03, 2022 11:27 am
@Xplorer you are only speaking about sanding steel or other metals right?
Because I hand sand wood to high grits, and even if the kind of sandpaper I get for 2k to 10k sanding might work better wet, I haven't really experimented with it by fear of water getting too much into the wood.
At that high a grit the wet sandpaper isn’t that much of a issue.
Im a vegetarian as technically cows are made of grass and water.
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Re: The Golden Rule of Sanding

#18

Post by Ramonade »

standy99 wrote:
Sun Jul 03, 2022 11:42 am
Ramonade wrote:
Sun Jul 03, 2022 11:27 am
@Xplorer you are only speaking about sanding steel or other metals right?
Because I hand sand wood to high grits, and even if the kind of sandpaper I get for 2k to 10k sanding might work better wet, I haven't really experimented with it by fear of water getting too much into the wood.
At that high a grit the wet sandpaper isn’t that much of a issue.
I'll try it then, to see if it changes things ! The high grit sandpaper I manage to score here isn't accompanied by "dry or wet" "wet", or any other indication as to how I'm supposed to use it ^^
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Re: The Golden Rule of Sanding

#19

Post by vanka »

That's really great info. I always thought that you progress the grits by doubling the number. If it ends in odd number, you step back a bit to a round number. Like going 120-240-400-800-1500 etc. After 3000 i don't skip grits because they're too fine and it takes more time. And each grit at least doubles the work time needed. 120 - 2min, 240 -5min, 400 - 10min, 800 - 20min etc. And when progressing with the grits also use less pressure on each grit if that makes sense.
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