# swirls in wood after using orbital sander



## t11t5 (Dec 12, 2012)

can someone help me stop this?


----------



## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

Swirl marks are caused by sanding the wood with too coarse sandpaper. It's best to sand wood with consecutively finer paper until you reach at least 180 grit. I prefer to sand to 220 grit. It would also help to slightly dampen the wood between grit changes to raise the grain. By doing so it makes the sanding more effective so you're more likely to remove the swirl marks.


----------



## GoIrish (Jan 29, 2012)

Work up through each grit 60, 100, 120, 150, and 180. Numbers may vary based on manufacturer. If you do that you should not have the swirls. Also check for the paper loading up with dust or finish. The loaded spots will dig deeper than the underlying grit.


----------



## JCCLARK (Jan 30, 2007)

It's mainly caused by moving the sander back and forth
to quickly, like they do on TV woodworking shows.
Most instructions warn against that.
RO sanders are to be moved slowly.


----------



## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

GoIrish said:


> Work up through each grit 60, 100, 120, 150, and 180. Numbers may vary based on manufacturer. If you do that you should not have the swirls. Also check for the paper loading up with dust or finish. The loaded spots will dig deeper than the underlying grit.


+1. :yes: I agree. You might be pressing the sander to hard on the wood, or getting the edge of the paper to dig in. I wouldn't wet the wood to raise the grain in order to sand out...IMO, not a method for curing swirls.









 







.


----------



## Bill White 2 (Jun 23, 2012)

Let the sander do the work. Don't press down heavily, don't move it too fast, use the correct paper and correct grits.
You'll win in the end.
Bill


----------



## Rick Mosher (Feb 26, 2009)

If you use an orbital sander there will ALWAYS be swirls. It's how the sander works. The idea is to use a fine enough grit sandpaper that the swirls aren't obvious through the finish. Usually 180 is right about where that happens. Move the sander slowly and don't add a lot of downward pressure, allow the sander to do the work for you. The other thing you can do in some cases is to block sand with the grain to remove the swirls and replace them with straight scratches OR just use a card scraper or hand plane and eliminate sanding altogether. (Not a good idea on commercial jobs. :smile: )


----------



## t11t5 (Dec 12, 2012)

thanks for the replies. I will be sanding tomorrow so all the tips are very helpful..


----------

