woodbrains
Established Member
Hello,
Everything is a compromise and at some point you have to weigh up whether switching to abrasive is going to be an expedient worth taking to save a bit of faffing. At some point we almost all do, but it is at what point we do it that matters. it is perfectly possible never to use planes and finish everything with abrasives. This has been proven to be extremely time consuming and gives an inferior finish to a planed surface. I suppose the abrasives used could be taken to the nth degree of fineness to improve the finish further, but that would take even more time. Law of diminishing returns here. There is no doubt that a planed finish gives a fine, burnished surface which will take oil, wax, shellac, polyurathane, cellulose laquer etc without any grain raising issues. Any fine nibs here are just dried micro-bubbles set on the surface as air raises out through pores in the wood. This would happen on a sanded surface too. Waterborne finishes and dyes will raise the grain of a planed or sanded finish.
Logically, if we hone our plane irons to 1 micron abrasive or there abouts, how could an abrasive used on wood which is much coarser, give a better result? Sanding wood with abrasives, down to a few microns, would likely be so time consuming as to be an absurdity.
You would be surprised how many do actually use hanplanes down to a finish, using abrasives for those elusive bits of tearout, but perhaps 90% remaining hand worked. Look at the furniture from the College of the Redwoods if you want to see minimal sanding on finished pieces. Whether this is economically viable for professionals is debatable, but many CR graduates become professionals. And after all, the many who contribute here do not want to have to deal with professional pressures; we want to enjoy our work in dust free and relatively quiet environments.
Mike.
Everything is a compromise and at some point you have to weigh up whether switching to abrasive is going to be an expedient worth taking to save a bit of faffing. At some point we almost all do, but it is at what point we do it that matters. it is perfectly possible never to use planes and finish everything with abrasives. This has been proven to be extremely time consuming and gives an inferior finish to a planed surface. I suppose the abrasives used could be taken to the nth degree of fineness to improve the finish further, but that would take even more time. Law of diminishing returns here. There is no doubt that a planed finish gives a fine, burnished surface which will take oil, wax, shellac, polyurathane, cellulose laquer etc without any grain raising issues. Any fine nibs here are just dried micro-bubbles set on the surface as air raises out through pores in the wood. This would happen on a sanded surface too. Waterborne finishes and dyes will raise the grain of a planed or sanded finish.
Logically, if we hone our plane irons to 1 micron abrasive or there abouts, how could an abrasive used on wood which is much coarser, give a better result? Sanding wood with abrasives, down to a few microns, would likely be so time consuming as to be an absurdity.
You would be surprised how many do actually use hanplanes down to a finish, using abrasives for those elusive bits of tearout, but perhaps 90% remaining hand worked. Look at the furniture from the College of the Redwoods if you want to see minimal sanding on finished pieces. Whether this is economically viable for professionals is debatable, but many CR graduates become professionals. And after all, the many who contribute here do not want to have to deal with professional pressures; we want to enjoy our work in dust free and relatively quiet environments.
Mike.