What is the finest sandpaper you've used?

I’ve used it on solid surface counter tops. You might check with a granite guy too.

-- http://www.woodsongsfurniture.com

I sand up to 600 grit on some stuff that I turn. I usually go to 1500 for sharpening my chisels and plane blades. But I use about four sheets of each in a year – 200 sheets should last you awhile!

-- http://www.north40custom.com -- http://north40studios.etsy.com --

I use 600 grit wet/dry paper quite a bit to knock the dust nibs off a piece between coats of finish.

-- "It's a good thing my woodworking is done afterhours so my 2 year old daughter can't hear the swearing."

I usually start at 220 and sand up to 1200-2000 grit. I am a turner.

600 doesn’t last very long and loads easily, so be ready to use it “once” and throw it away. You got a great deal.

-- Steven

When I am using shellac, I give a light sanding between coats with 400-600 grit sand paper

-- Francisco Luna, San Francisco Bay Area.

I’ll also go up to 2000 with turning, also the Micro Mesh pads which go to 12000!

FWW had an article some years back about going up to 2000 (wet/dry) for a supersmooooth finish.

-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso -- http://blanchardcreative.etsy.com -- http://snbcreative.wordpress.com/

I’ll use up to 2500 grit when sharpening blades, and will use 400/600 between layers when finishing.

-- When in doubt - There is no doubt - Go the safer route.

In French polishing I use 400 or 600 grit with baby oil to smooth the surface between sessions. It’s hard to tell if there is any grit left or if it’s still new, when you are using it wet.

In doing my Corian counter top I went up to 3000 grit. My wife didn’t want a higher polish.

-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

I use 600 for final sanding of my topcoat finishes. In sharpening chisels I generally go up to 2000. I have used 2000 for a super fine finish but this is overkill for most of my work. I simply did it to see if I could tell the difference between my usual 600 grit final sanding and the 2000 grit. To be honest I really could not feel any difference in the finish. But it was an interesting exercise.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

In my work I use up to 8000 grit. (Not wood working) 600 grit is an excellant surface polishing for some finishes.

-- Never board, always knotty, lots of growth rings

With Scary sharp I usually start at 600 and go up to 2000 + when I can find it. It was likely designed for the automotive industry ( body work). Keep it and use it between coats of finishes.

-- All bleeding will eventually stop.

I have a series of glass plates with wet/dry sandpaper attached with 3M77 adhesive. I start with 50 grit, and then go up through 80, 120, 220, 320, 400, 600, 800, and 1200. It’s somewhat difficult to find all these grits locally, so I usually stock up whenever I visit Highland Woodworking in Atlanta.

Using a Veritas MKII honing guide this is the “system” that I use to refurbish neglected or chipped chisels and plane irons and to give the initial sharpening to new “unhoned” chisels and plane irons.

My sharpening thereafter is usually done on the wetstones.

-- "Heaven is North of the Bridge"

600 is not bad to start when leveling a finish.

I tend to start at 500 (its what I have the most of) then goto steel wool (0000), then you can rub with rottenstone and finally a car buffing compound meant for show cars like a good Meguires.

Make that baby shine.

Honestly all else being equal the difference between a moderately priced piece of furniture (not talking cheap china veneered stuff here) and an expensive piece is the labor cost in doing a perfect finish.

I’ve used up to 12000 :)

Rockler has these, and these that go that high. I have the rectangular foam pads in the first link, and have used them on my mini lathe. They go from 1500 to 12k, and they’ll bring medium and harder woods to a plastic-like shine even before the finish. Pen turners seem to be a real target market. The highest ones feel like ultra fine spongy emery boards that sometimes come with beauty kits. You can’t even feel the abrasive a few levels before 12k. It feels more like slippery, soft rubber. The “More Info” tabs at each link gives a lot more about uses and intentions. Here are mine:

-- Gary, Los Angeles, video game animator

I think 600 would be great to knock the shine off a finish that you wanted matte. We like matte finishes, I normally run up to at least 400 before my final coat, and I generally hit it with a super-fine steel wool to take the shine off at the end, but 600 would be in that ballpark.

Like others I’ve used 2000 when finishing metal, before I went to the rouge in cotton. Probably should have gone to 4000 wet, ‘cause that buffing with rouge took a while.

-- Dan Lyke, Petaluma California, http://www.flutterby.net/User:DanLyke

I use the 600 grit to pre-finish some of my turnings, and as part of the sharpening process on some of my chisels

Up to 1500 to polish ebony. Usually use jewlers rouge though.

-- Scott - Chico California http://chicowoodnut.home.comcast.net

Yeah I figured since I had it I may as well try it between coats of finish on my endgrain cutting board. It left a beautiful finish, polished look to it. I thought I might be going overboard going with 600 but doesn’t sound that way. Only 199 sheets to go!

I use up to 2000 for may chisels on my work sharp and up to 1200 for end grain to help keep the stain from penetrating to much.

Jim

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon

600 is good for leveling finishes. I go up to P4000 with Abralon pads for final rubbing out shellac/lacquer/varnish.
Much better and less messy than pumice and rottenstone.

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

I normally don’t use anything beyond 400 grit for wood but will use up to 2000 grit for sharpening. I get mine from micromark.com. They have a lot of modeling supplies so they have fine stuff for plastics and metals. They have mini lathes, mini carving tools, sanders; anything you can think of for small projects. I have used jewelers rouge for polishing and honing too, but I think Brasso metal polish is even finer. I pour a little Brasso on a piece of manila folder which is laid on top of a piece of flat glass and drag the already sharpened tool (via the “scary sharp” system) across it on both sides a few times and it really refines the edge. I found that paper tears too easy to use with brasso, plastic or just the glass surface doesn’t work because the tool squeegees the brasso, and anything thicker or softer than the manila folder will allow the tool edge to sink in and round it over a bit. Anyway, I’m sure this stuff is at least a few thousand grit based off the results.

-- Dale Manning, Carthage, NY

I use 600 grit on all of my box tops, table tops, and other wide/flat surfaces. Its amazing the glass-like feeling you can get, especially from really hard woods like birch. Its also great for sharpening tools.

Usually 600 and up (1200, 1500, 2000, 3500… etc) is what they call “wet/dry” sandpaper because it is usually made for the automotive industry for finishing cars and between layers of automotive paint. So one thing you can do is take a piece of tempered glass, wet the surface, and lay the sandpaper on top of it. It will stick to the glass and be perfectly flat. Then spray the top of the sandpaper again with water. Now use it like a sharpening stone.

It wears out quickly but since the sheet of paper is much larger than a stone you can go over different parts of it. As it wears out it becomes like an even finer grit so when you are done you have a razer sharp edge.

-- Check out my new website! http://www.blakeweberwoodworking.com