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FEATURE RETAIL TRAINING
The art of hand sanding
Many consumers will walk into a hardware store and head straight for the power sanding consumables, but also guide them to consider the sheets and rolls, perfect for hand use.
W
e all love the speed and
normally disappears under the first coat of varnish,
sandpaper scraps due to their bluntness and
convenience of power tools when
stain or oil. Hand sanding also gives you more
inconsistent wear as it can leave uneven scratch
refurbishing furniture or sanding
flexibility and control when it comes to sanding
patterns on your surface.
the garage door at home, but once
in hard to reach places. When sanding contours,
When sanding by hand we are left with two
the heavy sanding is done, the power tools finish
corners and curves there is not much that beats a
choices, wet or dry sanding. Dry sanding offers
finds it difficult to compete with a little hand sanding.
sheet or strip of sandpaper that can also be used
more control and you have good visibility of what
with a sanding block.
you are doing and the finish. Dry sanding, however,
Power sanders leave a small but noticeable scratch pattern that could become more visible after your final coating is applied. Hand sanding even when using the same grit size
When taking on a project at home or at the
does tend to clog your sandpaper much quicker. It
office, we can agree that anyone would like to
is always more beneficial to use a stearate coated
do as little sanding as possible. Therefore, we only
sheet equipped with an anticlogging agent for such
that was used on your power sander produces a
buy the correct amount of sandpaper and variety
dry sanding applications.
finer and more consistent scratch pattern which
of grit sizes that we think we might need to
Distributor: Grinding Techniques Call: 011-271-6400 Visit: www.grindtech.com MAY 2020 DIY & INDUSTRIAL TRADE NEWS
In wet sanding, use a liquid such as mineral
complete the project. In most instances you will
spirits or soapy water to provide lubrication that
be able to complete your project with just three
aids in floating away the debris that would have
grit sizes of sanding sheets – for example,
clogged the sandpaper. For this application, use
100, 150 and 220 grit. It is always advised to test
a silicon carbide wet or dry abrasive sheet, more
a small sample piece of wood on your project to
commonly known as water paper.
see whether you will reach your desired finish
Finally, you can use non-woven hand pads that
before purchasing your sandpaper. It is also
contain just enough abrasive to remove small
recommended not to sand with half used
imperfections without cutting through your finish.
