Spent some time sanding this weekend.
The 1st four pix show the walnut chair ready for finish. My sanding schedule is 60, 100, 150, 220. I used a ROS on the seat and headrest, and then followed by hand. On the legs I sanded by hand. I like to sand quickly. Once I get to 220, I rub it down with a clean cloth and can clearly see all the tooling marks I missed. Then I just spot fix. A curved scraper gets the deepest marks out quickly. Scott likes to sand up to 320, but I prefer to wetsand my finish in starting at 220 and working up to 600 or 1000; for me it produces a smoother/flatter finish.
I curved over the back of the headrest completely to make it thinner. Since my seat is laminated 4/4, I was leery about grinding down too far. To achieve a thinner illusion, I rounded over the bottom of the seat.
Getting the inner profile of the headrest smooth and flat is always tricky because the sanding pad is too large to conform to the radius. So, I tipped the pad at about 45 degrees to fit the profile. The danger here is that you can easily dig divots. So, I only did this with 100grit, and kept the sander moving. Every minute, I blew off the dust, and let my fingers tell me how well I was progressing.
The 3rd pic here illustrates why I love this kind of Maloof project (and I know the rocker dudes will concur): As you shape and sand the joints, the transitions and lines just reveal themselves. The videos give you a guide, and it's nerve wracking at first to take off so much material. But as you approach the end, the lines come alive and the joint just shows you how it 'wants' to flow. It's a great feeling.