George Vondriska

How Sanding Affects Your Stain Color

George Vondriska
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Duration:   3  mins

Believe it or not, the most important step in the finishing process is sanding. George Vondriska and Matt Newborg show you how different sandpaper grit can affect the final stain color of your woodworking projects.

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5 Responses to “How Sanding Affects Your Stain Color”

  1. Roger

    I am honored to belong to WWGOA

  2. Mike Holmes

    Your sanding video is SOOO wrong. I am a third generation in the furniture restoration business. Full time 3 year back log furniture restoration business. Taught by old school furniture makers and finishers. That oak would get a final sand of 80 grit paper before using a quality oil based wiping stain in a quality shop. Your 120 or higher burnishes all the fine pores of the wood closed thus making the blotchyness you see in your sample of the fine sanding. Does sanding effect the color definitely yes! The fine sanding is meant to sand the finish. Sure there are soft woods that need a finer paper but not oak. You don't use " wood conditioners" you sand the wood correctly in the first place.

  3. E. Lowe

    Would still like to get your newsletters

  4. Ron Clemens

    I am trying to stain red oak to a nice, rich medium-dark brown with reddish overtones. I started with a diluted amber dye followed by a light sanding to tame any raised grain. The stain is a recipe of 3 different Minwax colors mixed together. I seem to have difficulty getting the stain to really penetrate into red oak. At first I thought it was because I was using a gel stain, but switching to regular made little difference. I also tried a coarser grit before the initial amber dye - 150 and even 120 instead of 220, but it still seems like the stain is sitting on the surface more than it's penetrating, except of course for the more open-pored grain pattern areas. Is there some sort of preconditioner I should be using on red oak?

  5. dakotarich024

    Is there any benefit to going to 220 when staining? What is a good grit to go to when painting?

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