Getting a good finish on routered edges?

[transatlantic]

One thing I have noticied with my projects is that my routered edges never come out looking as nice as the other surfaces. The finish soaks into them more and makes them much darker and rougher. Particularly on end grain, which I guess is what you would expect as it soaks in the finish more.

So when you guys rout something like an ovolo. Do you hand sand it up the grades afterwards to try and get it to match?

 

[sunnybob]

end grain will always take more staining and finishing than side grain. finer grades wiil help. but i dont know anything that will match end grain to side.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

If you are using decent quality, sharp cutters I'd think sanding could do more harm than good. I usually try to take one microscopically fine cut last.

 

[Yojevol]

Make a trial cut. If the finish is unsatisfactory and the work piece shape allows it, turn it through 90deg and feed through again. This means it will be feeding in the opposite direction and possibly cutting with the grain rather that against it.
Brian

 

[profchris]

I have this problem finishing the necks of guitars and ukuleles. In my case I carve the heel by hand, but the effect is just the same - if I apply finish normally, the end grain is noticeably darker and also roughens up.

My solution is several thinly wiped on coats of my finish (thinning if the finish is thick). A single pass with a little finish on a paper towel, then allowed to dry. Once dry, sanded back to smooth, and then repeat. I find it can take 6 or 7 coats like this before the end grain starts behaving, but then I can apply finish as normal. The end grain is still a little darker, but this tends to even out as more finish is applied.

The thin, single pass, is important - if my paper towel is wet enough so I see any liquid on the wood, the end grain will darken much more than the longitudinal grain.

I use shellac, which means I can apply a thin coat and sand maybe 40 mins later, so in theory I could complete the process in a day (in practice I do this over a few days). Varnish is slower drying, so you might not want to invest the time. Though you could use shellac to do the initial sealing and levelling, and then apply pretty much anything over the top.

 

[Trevanion]

I always sand any mouldings I do, mostly because the radial cutter style marks show like a sore thumb when painted over.

 

[transatlantic]

Thanks of for the tips.

 

[custard]

It's an interesting question. It's generally assumed that end grain finishes darker because end grain is more absorbent. That's partially true, but it is a surprisingly minor part of the story. The more important issue seems to be that end grain, at a micro level, tears out when cut or machined, and the finish pools in these microscopic pits.

If you sand meticulously, and right through the grits starting at 80 grit and progressing up to extremely high levels, say 2000 or 2500, then it's astonishing how close you can finish end grain relative to long grain. Some timbers are better than others, but I've seen hard evidence for this and it's a real eye opener. The problem is that the effort required to sand this fastidiously means it's not really a viable technique apart from exceptional cases.

 

[transatlantic]

It's an interesting question. It's generally assumed that end grain finishes darker because end grain is more absorbent. That's partially true, but it is a surprisingly minor part of the story. The more important issue seems to be that end grain, at a micro level, tears out when cut or machined, and the finish pools in these microscopic pits.

If you sand meticulously, and right through the grits starting at 80 grit and progressing up to extremely high levels, say 2000 or 2500, then it's astonishing how close you can finish end grain relative to long grain. Some timbers are better than others, but I've seen hard evidence for this and it's a real eye opener. The problem is that the effort required to sand this fastidiously means it's not really a viable technique apart from exceptional cases.

Ah right. Just to be clear, I'm not trying to get the end grain to match the long grain (poorly worded in my original post). I don't think that is worth the time or effort and probably looks a little weird. More so I am just trying to reduce the stark contrast I get when applying a stain. Looks great on the flat surfaces where I can easily to sand (to around 320), but pretty awful on my routed edges.

I guess the question I should have asked is do you generally hand sand your routed profiles and if so, to what grit?

 

[custard]

do you generally hand sand your routed profiles and if so, to what grit?

Yes, for furniture purposes almost always. I'll make curved sanding blocks to match the profile, either the full profile in one hit or in stages.

The actual grits depends on the quality of the routing. With a sharp router bit and a well controlled cut you can sometimes just go 180 and 220. But with a dull bit, a bit of scorching or the wrong feed speed, then you may need to go the full monty 80/120/150/180/220.

 

[AJB Temple]

This is my off the wall approach. I used to make a lot of guitars (about 200 in total over the years) as a "for sale" hobby. Almost all bespoke. It used to be a big problem dealing with end grain and sanding to very fine grits is slow when you are doing this in your limited free time.....

So I started using clean buffer wheels of various hardness on a grinder set up as a polisher, and a flexible hose with a polishing head attached to a drill set in a vice jig.

I can see Custard cringing as I write this, but it does create a very tight finish - super smooth - on the wood before polishing.

These days I don't make guitars any more and have moved onto violins as a hobby, and for that I use handwork only.

 

[custard]

So I started using clean buffer wheels of various hardness on a grinder set up as a polisher, and a flexible hose with a polishing head attached to a drill set in a vice jig.

I can see Custard cringing as I write this, but it does create a very tight finish - super smooth - on the wood before polishing.

Sounds like an interesting solution , doubly so for curved mouldings. If something works then that's plenty good enough for me!