# Sanding walnut



## owlelope (Jan 29, 2009)

I use a lot of walnut in my woodworking and I have problems getting all of the sanding marks out of it. It takes a lot more sanding than any other wood. I start with 80 grit and go to 220 and it finally gets most of the marks out. Does someone have a good way to get the marks out?


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

owlelope said:


> I use a lot of walnut in my woodworking and I have problems getting all of the sanding marks out of it. It takes a lot more sanding than any other wood. I start with 80 grit and go to 220 and it finally gets most of the marks out. Does someone have a good way to get the marks out?


Try wiping the wood down with a wet rag between grit changes. The water will raise the grain and make the sanding more efficient. 

I'm wondering just what kind of sanding marks you are referring to? If it's swirl marks from an orbital sander the problem may be more with the sander you are using rather than technique. 

Anyway unless you are using an oil finish some sanding marks will disappear with the finish.


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## shoot summ (Feb 21, 2014)

Why 80 grit? Way too coarse IMO, 100 is can also be too coarse depending on what you are doing.

Try starting at 120 and I bet it will get better.


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## owlelope (Jan 29, 2009)

Thanks for your help. I will try both suggestions. The marks are from using the drum sander. I tried taking just real fine cuts but that didn't help.


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## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

shoot summ said:


> Why 80 grit? Way too coarse IMO, 100 is can also be too coarse depending on what you are doing.
> 
> Try starting at 120 and I bet it will get better.



Thas was also my first thought. I only use less than 100 grit when working with very rough wood that I want to reduce fast.

I have found walnut no different to sand than any other wood.

George


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## was2ndlast (Apr 11, 2014)

Cabinet scraper works super well on walnut BTW. Glass smooth finish.


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## epicfail48 (Mar 27, 2014)

GeorgeC said:


> Thas was also my first thought. I only use less than 100 grit when working with very rough wood that I want to reduce fast.
> 
> I have found walnut no different to sand than any other wood.
> 
> George


I agree with George, and the other people suggesting finer paper. Heck, 9/10 times I'm sanding something I start at 180, boards come out of the planer pretty smooth already. I only drop down to 120 when I need to clean up a panel glueup or something similar, save the 80 grit for stripping paint


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## RichO (Apr 29, 2009)

My drum sander does the same thing but with all wood. The drum grits are 100 and 150 but it's still not smooth like you would expect. It does leave sanding marks that take a lot of ROS to get out.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

You guys may not like 80 but I use it. It gets rid of drum sander marks which was the complaint from the OP. I normally go from 80 to 180 and in some cases 220.


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## RichO (Apr 29, 2009)

Steve Neul said:


> You guys may not like 80 but I use it. It gets rid of drum sander marks which was the complaint from the OP. I normally go from 80 to 180 and in some cases 220.


Especially if you are just putting a clear finish on the wood where any sanding imperfections would likely not show...


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## shoot summ (Feb 21, 2014)

Steve Neul said:


> You guys may not like 80 but I use it. It gets rid of drum sander marks which was the complaint from the OP. I normally go from 80 to 180 and in some cases 220.


Didn't say I didn't like it, just rarely have a use for it. 

For what I do 100 is too coarse most of the time, only when I need to take a fare amount of material off is it used.

Sand paper and grits are just another tool, use what you need to get the job done. 

OP asked about sanding scratches and removing them, the fact he has them indicates an abrasive that is too coarse is being used.


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## Quickstep (Apr 10, 2012)

I usually work my way up from 80 or 100 to 180 using a random orbit sander than sand by hand with 220 with the grain using a felt or rubber block. Maybe it's wasted time, but I also use a lot of grits - 100, 120, 150, 180, 220 rather than just going from 120-180 for example. It's really important to get all of the marks from the coarser grits out before moving to the next grit, because the finer grits probably won't get them. I've found that the quality of the paper makes a big difference because of the consistency of the grit. A cheap disk with just a few pieces of oversized grit chunks can make a big mess.


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