Sanding End Grain

Video Transcript

" Hi, my name is Kevin and on behalf of Expert Village, I'm going to talk about sanding end grain. On this piece of walnut, we've talked a lot about the different sanding; going with the grain, which is always what you want to do. The few exceptions we've discussed in general you're always going to finish going with the grain. On the end of the board you have what is called end grain. End grain is very tough and dense because of the end of the board. It tends to be more difficult to sand. One of the advantages it has is it sands really, really smooth. It doesn't hold scratches like it does if you go across the grain on the face of this board. You can sand this board up, sideways, down, random orbital and it's not really going to hold marks. It will hold machine marks, like with a really rough grit on a belt sander; it will hold those. As long as you're sanding up to a really fine grit, like 150 and above, you can sand just about any direction you want and it's not going to hold scratches. You don't have to adhere to so much of the strict rules of sanding with the grain that you do on the face grain. On the end grain it's a little more of a free-for-all. Whatever it takes to get it done, as long as you're finishing with a higher grit, you shouldn't have to worry about any specific directions. I would just recommend that whatever direction you pick; whether it's across or up and down, that you just stick with it. That way it's consistent with whatever scratches the sandpaper's making. On this piece of end grain on this walnut the machine marks aren't very deep so I'm just going to start with this random orbital; from here go straight to hand sanding. The end grain finishes out smoother than the edge grain. It's going to feel almost marble-smooth when you're done with it. It really isn't the sand; just whatever direction you pick: up and down, sideways, whatever the particular is easiest to use on the piece you're sanding. Just make sure the end grain that you keep a consistent up or down. Stick to a consistent to be on the safe side that way you don't have any cross grain scratches."