end grain sanding of a cutting board re-finish...HELP

Get a belt sander or an orbital sander. I just finished another one of these today. I start with the belt sander with 80 grit and then use the random orbital going from 100, 150, 220 grit. I also used a scraper and that really smoothed things out. A 1/4 sheet sander just isn’t aggressive enough to tackle that end grain. I’ve also run them through my surface planer. I glue a sacrificial piece of wood to the trailing end of the cutting board so I don’t chip out the end of it. After it’s smoothed out, I just rip the sacrificial piece off on the table saw and sand down the edge. I hope that helps.

-- Tony, Ohio

thanks tony…

-- Matt, Napa, CA...fun is beautiful...just trying to have some fun...

Keep dropping down to finer grits. Go to 320 or 400 and maybe even 600. Keep switching out the paper, lots of folks I know don’t change the paper often enough and the result is a muddy finish. Paper is cheap, time is not.

The rule of thumb is to go at least one if not two steps further on endgrain.

Use good quality sand paper – cheap sand paper does not last as long and you use a lot more, you should not need to go beyond P320.

When finishing the board, apply some extra coats to the end-grain 1st- wait utill its dry and rub it out with P320 or wire wool, after 2 to 3 coats on the end, start on the whole board. You can get a really high sheen using this method.

-- Tony - All things are possible, just some things are more difficult than others! - SKYPE: Heron2005 (http://www.poydatjatuolit.fi)

thanks guys…

-- Matt, Napa, CA...fun is beautiful...just trying to have some fun...