I'm a beginner woodworker/wood finisher…..so I made this prayer kneeler for someone, and everything was awesome, until staining, and then it got ruined. I have all of these sanding spots all over. Its only out of pine, because I didnt want to spend big bucks on it and ruin it - Being new to woodworking, this is my first BIG project…. I sanded it with an orbital sander with 80, then 120, then 220. Then I finished sanding it with 400 by hand with a sanding block. It literally felt like a baby's butt, it was so smooth! Unfortunately after staining it, all of these sanding spots showed up. I did put a wood conditioner on it, to stop the blotchiness. so here are my questions, feel free to answer 1, or all…thanks a lot!! I NEED A LOT OF HELP! The actually kneeler part is not shown in the pics…..
1.) are my orbital sanding techniques bad? I had the machine running before touching it to the wood..should I have it on the wood and then turn it on? How do I not get sanding marks to show up when staining?
2.) you can see the top has some sort of stripes on it….I can only assume this is from sanding…is that right? did I do something wrong there? or is it just the wood?
3.) Should i sand and stain each piece and THEN put it together? I had it all put together, then sanded it (which was tough) and then stained it (which was tougher)
4.) Is sanding pine to 400grit too much? Should I have stopped at 220?
5.) Should I just give up on woodworking????
1.) are my orbital sanding techniques bad? I had the machine running before touching it to the wood..should I have it on the wood and then turn it on? How do I not get sanding marks to show up when staining?
2.) you can see the top has some sort of stripes on it….I can only assume this is from sanding…is that right? did I do something wrong there? or is it just the wood?
3.) Should i sand and stain each piece and THEN put it together? I had it all put together, then sanded it (which was tough) and then stained it (which was tougher)
4.) Is sanding pine to 400grit too much? Should I have stopped at 220?
5.) Should I just give up on woodworking????