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I’m closing in on the end of this maple/walnut bedside table and I’ll be prepping for finish soon. I’ve never used Arm-R-Seal before, but the recommended 150grit leaves some visible scratches that I’d like to sand out. How fine can I safely go before my first coat of Arm-R-Seal gloss?
Attachment 480894
https://imgur.com/a/nmwfPCU
I've sanded to 220. I always do a final hand sand when using an orbital, just for safety.
You can go as fine as you want, certainly up to 325 or 400 grit, but there's no benefit going beyond where the scratches disappear. I would think they should be gone after 220 grit if you've done a good job removing the scratches with each sequential grit.
You definitely need to get rid of the scratches before applying the finish. I know that from vivid first hand experience.
John
Quote:
Originally Posted by John TenEyck
+1
The first coat does not require a "tooth" to adhere, that's only for successive coats to adhere to one another.
I've never had adhesion problems sanding to 400 or even higher.
I tend to stop after 180, especially for film finishes (which is all I normally use these days). I once did a test, stopping at 120, 150, 180, and 220 (or something like that; it was a while ago) on different spots on a board before applying a coat of SealCoat and then a couple coats of Minwax fast dry satin poly (sanding at 320 between coats 1 & 2, and 2 & 3) I really couldn't tell between them. I think Fine Woodworking did a similar test (FWW #189 maybe?) with similar results.
Thanks for all the input. So far it looks like 220 is taking care of all the visible scratches I can see under my bright shop LED lights.