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The day I realized I was sanding plywood wrong for 10 years
I was finishing a built-in bookshelf in my own house last month. After 3 coats of paint, I could see swirl marks everywhere. Took me a full afternoon and a lot of cussing to sand it all down and start over. Turns out I was using 80-grit on the final passes when I should have been using 220. An old timer at the lumber yard asked me why I was 'grinding' the wood instead of smoothing it. That conversation saved my next project. Anybody else have a basic step they messed up for way too long?
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the_daniel1mo agoMost Upvoted
I mean, come on, is it really that big of a deal? Sanding is sanding. Yeah, 80 grit is rough but it's not like you ruined the whole project. You see some swirl marks, hit it with some 120 and move on. People act like you need a PhD in woodworking to slap some paint on a shelf. I've been using whatever grit I grab first for years and my stuff looks fine. Maybe you just had bad lighting or were looking too close.
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