Heard a guy at the hardware store in Tacoma say he sands with the grain 'most of the time'

I was grabbing some 220 grit paper and this older guy was telling his buddy he only sands against the grain on the final pass to knock off the nibs. I've always been taught to never, ever go against the grain at any stage. It made me stop and think about how many rules we follow without testing them. Has anyone else tried a final cross-grain pass on a sealed coat and had it work out?

3 comments

3 Comments

walker.julia12d ago

That's a wild thing to hear in a Tacoma hardware store lol. What kind of finish was he putting on? I've seen guys do a super light cross-grain rub with like 400 grit on a hard cured varnish to flatten it, but only after like three coats. Doing it to knock off nibs on a first coat sounds like asking for trouble.

the_mia11d ago

My uncle in Spokane does that final cross-grain rub, and Julia is right, it only works on a rock-hard finish.

fionafoster11d ago

Yeah, that first coat is way too soft. You'd just gum it up. Gotta wait for it to cure like concrete.