Denibbing

[sunnybob]

Soft sanding pads are only good for curved surfaces.
Use one on a flat piece of wood and you will round the edges over without even realising it.

 

[morpheus83uk]

Thank you it sounds like I need a bit of both them as its a curved table which I am doing so I would need the Abranet pads and some soft sanding pads for the curves.

What pads would I need for the denibbing would it be the 120 for each coat and a 600 for the final? or 600 throughout?

Thank You.

James

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Soft sanding pads are only good for curved surfaces.
Use one on a flat piece of wood and you will round the edges over without even realising it.

We're talking of wiping it over not trying to wear holes in it.

 

[AES]

+1 for Andy T's hand Abranet pad. NOT cheap, but excellent, and just as he says, with a vac on the back end of it (you'll need an adaptor), the nearest thing to dust-free sanding that I've ever seen.

As sunnybob says, de-nibbing involves only a VERY gentle rub - hand pressure VERY light.

I repeat, I have very little experience of oil and wax finishes though.

 

[morpheus83uk]

Yes so just hand sand with the Abranet pads and some soft sanding pads.

What pads would I need for the denibbing would it be the 120 for each coat and a 600 for the final? or 600 throughout?

Thanks

James

 

[AES]

I guess it depends on the job and the finish, but IMO anyway, 120 would be much too coarse. For de-nibbing, I'd be starting at 600 and going even finer (next go a piece of well-used 60, last one, probably 1000, or 4x0 wire wool). It's all about FINE and GENTLY (well that's my experience anyway). NO elbow grease needed here!

 

[Nico Adie]

I, of course, bow to the massively superior experience of other members here, but I've had reasonable success using a 240 grit Garryflex block for denibbing between coats of danish oil on both teak (refinishing mid-century coffee tables) and American black walnut. Very gentle.

 

[woodbloke66]

I guess it depends on the job and the finish, but IMO anyway, 120 would be much too coarse. For de-nibbing, I'd be starting at 600 and going even finer (next go a piece of well-used 60, last one, probably 1000, or 4x0 wire wool). It's all about FINE and GENTLY (well that's my experience anyway). NO elbow grease needed here!

Agreed, 120g is way too aggressive. I have a special little box just for 600g Abranet that I use solely for de-nibbing and the more each piece is used, the better it becomes. All that's needed is a swift, very light wipe of abrasive (wrapped round a cork block if needed) to take off any dust particles from the finish. Then feel it with your finger tips to see if its smooth, vacuum off any dust and then apply the next coat. A decent sized desk top should take no longer than 5-7 seconds to de-nib; if it takes longer than that you're giving it too much grief! - Rob

 

[morpheus83uk]

Brilliant. So by the sounds of it I wouldn't need the block then just a very gentle wipe over with the Abranet by hand and its done. I presume I could use them on the curves too or would I still need the soft sanding pads?

Sorry for all the questions I just want to get it straight in my head before I start purchasing things unnecessarily.

Thanks

James

 

[AES]

IMO a soft-ish pad (a piece to foam for example) is good for going around curves. Although LITTLE pressure is required, using either a flat block (cork is ideal) or your hand will most likely apply a little more pressure in one part of a curved surface than the rest of the curve. As already said, since we're after MINIMUM pressure here (we do NOT want to get down into the finish itself), it's better to use something curved (like a soft pad) on curved surfaces than either your hand or a flat rigid block.

 

[morpheus83uk]

Oh right so are the Abranet pads not very flexible or soft?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Brilliant. So by the sounds of it I wouldn't need the block then just a very gentle wipe over with the Abranet by hand and its done. I presume I could use them on the curves too or would I still need the soft sanding pads?
James

It's easier to use a block of some sort as you get better contact on flat surfaces (my blocks are bits of carpet tile stuck to ply offcuts). All you are trying to do is remove the tiniest bits of dirt and dust - if it takes more than a quick wipe, you've done something wrong - either you've not done your preparation properly or you've polished in a dusty atmosphere (made worse if the polish is slow drying as it'll pick up even more). I suspect you're trying to get rid of something that shouldn't have been there in the first place. If your polish (of whatever description) has raised the grain you should have dealt with that before you got to the denibbing stage - a sanding sealer, a very dilute first coat of polish or even a wipe over with (hot) water will raise the grain for sanding before starting to polish.

 

[morpheus83uk]

Thanks so something like this for the Abranet pads:

https://www.axminster.co.uk/single-side ... 5mm-502671

When you say a foam pad coulkd you point me to an example so I purchase the correct thing?

Thanks

 

[AES]

I've not used the one you linked to, sorry. I use either a very normal cork block (found in the decorators section of any DIY shed - but I think I also saw one on the Axi page you linked to), or this:

Either will be fine for flat and SLIGHTLY curved surfaces, but the advantage of the above item (pictured) is that, of course, that you can use it with the vac (with a suitable adaptor), so it's ideal for all hand sanding, not just de-nibbing. (Oh, and it fits the Abranet sheets in whatever grade you have too).

But NEITHER the above are particularly good for really curved surface, being flat and in effect rigid (apart from the slightly rubbery thin under surface of the 2nd item). Anything flat/rigid will tend to leave flat spots or at least, areas where you've accidently rubbed through the finish down to the parent material. I guess any foam pad would do, provided it's not too soft & squishy. I use a piece of old rubberised horse hair that was originally used for freighting delicate instruments - i.e. pretty stiff, NOT like, say, a bath sponge, but it's also flexible, and will conform to any shape. But anything that fits the above description will work fine, it's just got to follow the curve evenly.

Sorry to repeat myself, but remember, this is NOT sanding we're talking about, this is de-nibbing so virtually NIL pressure is needed. Someone has already said above that a piece of coarse cloth will do. I've never tried that myself, but it sounds to me that it would work fine for de-nibbing curves, because it willnaturally follow the curves without needing much pressure on it.

Don't sweat this too much, it's not rocket science - it's just a gentle wipe over with a fine abrasive, really!

 

[morpheus83uk]

Thank you.

I havent ever come across a coarse cloth before if you could point me in the direction of one I would be grateful.

Thanks

James

 

[AES]

James, I'm sorry, as said before I have never used a coarse cloth before. Someone else in the thread above said that he'd used one, and I simply said that it sounds to me like that should work.

I think any cloth which is not smooth might be called coarse (!!!!) - I think that with all respect due to a beginner, you really ARE over-thinking this.

When you paint, or wax, or varnish something, you tend to get minute particles left behind- i.e. the surface is not dead smooth like a piece of glass. All you're trying to do is (GENTLY - that word again) remove that slight roughness. As I already said in a previous post in this thread, I have little experience of wax finishes on wood, but quite a lot of experience of both paint and varnish on both wood and on metal. To remove those small imperfections and bring the surface nearer to glass-like, you can use almost anything that's not fine and which will follow contours if the job's not flat.

I don't know about yours, but in my case I reckon a pair of my old underpants would do fine!

I suggest you now just go and have a go at whatever it is you're trying to finish. Unless you go really mad, about the worst that can happen if you've followed all the advice above is that you've just rubbed too hard and rubbed away parts of the first coat of whatever it is you're applying. No big deal, just start again. Another lesson learned.