The Sanding Blues

Does the thought of sanding a piece of wood bring tears to your eyes? Well, that’s what safety glasses are for. Just kidding. Do you dislike sanding because it’s boring and tedious? Do you think it is monotonous and mundane? Okay, enough trying to impress you with my vocabulary. Do you despise the task of sanding? Yes? Well, I used to.

Sanding can be very boring, but when done correctly, it can be an art form. When using a power sander, you risk leaving scuff marks or can wind up taking off too much in one area. Sometimes, you can even take off not enough. There are several key elements to sanding. The first of which is to gradually go from a coarse grit sandpaper to a fine grit sandpaper.

When I was a teenager, my dad saw me sanding a piece of wood. He noticed I went from an 80 grit piece of sandpaper to a 320 grit piece. He told me that I should have used a medium grit piece first. He explained that by not doing so, I would be sanding on the wood for the rest of the day before it would get smoothed out. Not to mention wasting a lot of fine grit sandpaper. Then he explained to me about the second key element. ALWAYS wipe off the sawdust between sanding. If you don’t, some of the sand that comes off the paper can scratch grooves into the wood. This can ruin your finished look.

The third key element to sanding is to sand with the grain of the wood. If you don’t, you will risk tearing small pieces off. Yes, I have done this….several times. When this happens, your piece will never look just right.

If you take the right mental approach, sanding can be less boring and more relaxing. It can become like a form of meditation. So don’t get distressed and be happy. After all, you are making SAWDUST!

“Sawdust therapy”

Do you ever have one of those days where you just get really stressed out? Where it seems no matter what you do, everything just goes to hell in a hand basket? Of course you do, everyone has those kind of days. Maybe it’s your boss riding you about getting some report finished. It could be the kids constantly fighting over who’s turn it is to play the video game console. You got stuck in rush hour traffic in front of somebody who is horn crazy. No matter what it is, you are completely stressed out and feel like you want to snap.

Just take a deep breath and relax.

Do you feel better now? Yeah, me neither. When I get to feeling this way, I need a therapy session. I don’t mean going and talking about your feelings to some namby-pamby therapist, who charges you a days pay for 15 minutes of their time. I mean a real therapy session! “Sawdust therapy”! I mean going out into the garage or workshop and making a huge mess, while sweating your butt off. Sometimes, my therapy sessions might involve a beer. If it does, then absolutely NO POWER TOOLS!!!

“Sawdust therapy” is great! You can grab a hand saw and cut on a piece of wood to release some of the aggression you might be feeling. If there are a lot of little things bugging you, you can just chisel out some grooves for joints. If you are feeling down, depressed or sad, you can just grab some sandpaper (starting with coarse grit and working to extra fine) and slowly sand those feelings away. Hey, it works for me! Those pieces being cut, chiseled or sanded away are all of the negativity leaving me. All I end up with is a peaceful feeling and a finished product. How is that for multi-tasking?

Although, if you prefer to talk to a therapist, well, that’s up to you. I prefer my “sawdust therapy”.