Sanding before painting wood will help the paint something to hold on to. So, it is a very important step before you put that favorite color on the wood.
Before I answer on how much to sand, let me ask you a couple of questions? Have you already done with applying the Primer? Did you sand before applying the Primer? If the answer is yes for both, jump straight to the last paragraph.
Wood comes in different textures, it can be coarse texture or fine texture. A coarse textured wood contains large cells, and a fine textured wood contains small cells. Slicing of the wood also slice these cells and create hollows which are also called as pores. It is extremely important to apply Primer on a wood which you have never painted before. Applying the Primer will fill in all the pores and it will become very easy for you to paint. Applying the Primer will also take less paint, and the finished job looks much more even. Else, you will never know where all the paint has gone.
Paints that we usually used to paint furniture don’t contain high solids, that means they are not that concentrated enough to fill in the open pores. That is the reason we need to use Primers before applying paint.
But even before applying the Primer, it is essential to sand a fresh wood. A fresh wood might have uneven spaces. A fresh wood will also be rough due to the open pores. So, sanding the fresh wood will remove all those open pores, making the wood smoother.
To get that smooth surface, first you need to get rid of the roughness. For sanding, use a random orbital sander if it is a big furniture or else you can use a sandpaper with a wood block. While sanding, you should also make sure that you are stripping out the layer to the level of the deepest dent, so that it looks plain.
Once you have completed sanding the wood, apply the Primer with a brush or a roller. Brush will be helpful if the wood has designs and curves. If it is a flat surface, you can also use a roller to get the job done quickly. Give it some time to dry up.
After Primer is dried up, do you still see the original wood color? If yes, maybe it is better to apply another round of Primer to cover those gaps, which will ensure that it doesn’t suck the paint. But before you apply the second round of Primer, sand the surface again by using a 180 to 220 finer grit sandpaper.
After sanding the first round of Primer, clean the wood using a vacuum and a wet cotton cloth. Ensure that you have squeezed enough to get rid of the water. Then apply the Primer for the second time and leave it for some time.
Once the wood is dry with the second Primer, it is now time for sanding it again so that paint sticks on it. Take a 180 to 220 finer grit sandpaper again and sand it briefly. Don’t over sand it to the level of stripping down the Primer. Our aim is to give the paint something to hold on right. That’s why just run through all sides of the wood once or twice using the sander or a sandpaper.
Sometimes, it is also preferable to sand the first coat of the paint again with a 220 grit or higher sandpaper to add another layer of paint to get a perfect finish.
I hope you find this article useful in your projects. Thanks for visiting.
Leave a Reply