Rant: Why do so many folks skip pre-sanding before finishing these days?

I compared two identical oak TV cabinets I built last month, one I sanded to 220 grit and the other I just ran through the planer... the difference in the stain was night and day. The unsanded one looked blotchy and rough compared to the smooth even color on the sanded one. Anybody else noticing customers not wanting to pay for that extra step?

2 comments

2 Comments

lisat6013d ago

Oh man, tell me about it! I had a buddy who built a set of bookshelves last year and swore he could skip sanding because he used a "pre-stain conditioner" and it would be fine. The end result looked like someone spilled coffee on it in patches. My own dad always says the extra hour of sanding is worth more than any fancy finish you can buy. Why do people think the planer is a magic wand for smoothness, right?

jake19113d ago

@lisat60 I'm going to go ahead and disagree here. Sanding is overrated and people treat it like a sacred ritual. You can absolutely get a smooth finish without spending an hour with 220 grit if you know what you're doing. A sharp plane blade and a light touch will give you a surface that feels like glass, and no amount of sanding dust can replace that. Your buddy's bookshelves probably looked like that because he didn't prep the wood right, not because he skipped sanding. Dad's wisdom is fine for 1965, but there's more than one way to skin a cat.