Why Is Sanding Wood So Important?
First and foremost, it smooths out rough surfaces. If you're thinking about working with untreated wood, all those ridges and knots must go before you slap a coat of paint on it. Otherwise, you'll wind up with an uneven paint job and, more than likely, an unwelcome splinter surprise.
Secondly, sandpaper is the best defect-removal tool in your toolbox. Wood is a soft material, prone to dents, divots, and splinters that take away from the overall beauty of a finished piece.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, buffing out the surface preps the wood for finishing. Wood has pores, and sanding opens them up to better absorb paints, stains, and sealants.
Silicon carbide sandpaper is often found in waterproof options, making it the go-to for wet sanding projects. The sharpness of the particles offers a fine, even finish that gives the final product a highly polished appearance, whether it's wood, metal, plastic, or glass.
Some sandpapers combine silicon carbide with lubricating zinc stearate, resulting in non-loading, dry-use-only sandpaper that won't "gum up" with material sanded away from the material's surface as you use it. It's more durable, heat-resistant, and works beautifully on non-wood surfaces like glass and metal.
Silicon carbide sandpaper is often found in waterproof options, making it the go-to for wet sanding projects. The sharpness of the particles offers a fine, even finish that gives the final product a highly polished appearance, whether it's wood, metal, plastic, or glass.
Some sandpapers combine silicon carbide with lubricating zinc stearate, resulting in non-loading, dry-use-only sandpaper that won't "gum up" with material sanded away from the material's surface as you use it. It's more durable, heat-resistant, and works beautifully on non-wood surfaces like glass and metal.
Silicon carbide sandpaper recommended use: Wet sanding, Glass, Plastics, Hard metals
Sandpaper Grits
Now that you know what types of sandpaper for wood sanding, it's time to move on to the proper grit, or the size and amount of the grains of abrasive materials on each square inch of a piece of sandpaper. A higher "fine" grit means the particles are smaller, so you can fit more in a square inch, while a lower "coarse" grit means larger particles and fewer of them.
Think of it like the sand at the beach. When you walk barefoot on a fine sand beach, like those in the Caribbean, it feels soft but still rough enough to scratch up the label on your beer can. That would be a fine grit. Now go north to a beach with larger sand pieces, and it feels a lot rougher than the white sands of the Caribbean. That would be a coarser abrasive with a lower grit. If you're diving for a football on the sand, you'll come up with fewer scratches from the fine-grit sand in the Caribbean than the coarse sand on a beach further up north.
For a deeper dive into sandpaper grit - Sandpaper Grit Explained
Coarse Grit (40-60)
Coarse grits are the heavy lifters of the sandpaper lineup. With their larger abrasive grains, they can take off a lot of material with every swipe. They're best for stripping paint or shaping large surfaces, but you must work slowly to prevent damaging the wood. If you have a mishap, you can clean it up with finer grit later in the sanding process, but it's always best to avoid having to do that extra work.
Medium Grit (80-150)
Once you've done the broad strokes with coarse sandpaper, you'll want to move on to a more balanced medium grit. They're versatile enough for various tasks, from smoothing smaller sections of rough surfaces to removing more significant scratches left by the first round of wood sanding.
Fine Grit (180-320)
When it comes to those perfect finishing touches, fine grit is where most people will end up. The small but abundant abrasive grains provide a silky-smooth surface for the finish to sink into. You can also use fine-grit sandpaper to banish dried drips or bumps between finish coats.
Extra Fine Grit (400-2000)
The extra fine grit sandpaper is what you turn to when you want perfection. It smooths away any last imperfections and buffs the wood to a highly refined state, perfect for those final finish applications.
