The Sanding Tutorial

I got most of the paint and canvas off the steam trunk with the paint scraper, this will help make it a little bit easier when it comes time to sand our project. In order to avoid gouging the wood with the paint scraper I left the really stubborn canvas and paint to be sanded off later. 

I'm not going to go into great detail here. Sanding wood really isn't rocket science. Simply roll up your sleeves and start sanding. The biggest tip I can give you is to always try and sand with the grain of the wood. This really is the most important part, SAND WITH THE GRAIN OF THE WOOD!  Bold,capital letters, italics, exclamation mark ! If you sand against the grain, you will see the scratches when you try and stain your finished product. Tip number 2 , use a sanding block whenever possible. This gives you a nice even sanded surface and will help avoid putting grooves or waves in the finished product.

With that said, this is how I attacked this part of the project.

I purchased a sanding sponge from the hardware store. I went with a coarse grade sponge. I used the course sponge to get the areas that had a lot of leftover canvas, paint, and glue. Once the sponge lost its coarseness I wrapped it with a medium grade sandpaper and used the sponge as my sanding block.You could also get a small block of wood and use that instead of the sanding sponge.

Now sand the entire trunk down with the medium grade sand paper wrapped around the sanding sponge. Take off all the leftover canvas, paint and glue. Along the edges and by the locking mechanisms, and latches is the only place I went against the grain when needed. Sand as close to the mechanisms as possible, and when the canvas, glue and paint is removed then take your time and sand with the grain to remove any cross scratching you may have created. This is the most important part, anytime you sand against the grain, sand equally with the grain to remove the scratching.

Finally, before you stain the trunk, you want to sand the entire trunk again with a fine sand paper, and then repeat the entire process again with an extra fine sandpaper. Paying special attention to any areas you may have sanded against the grain and any  gouges that may have been created by the paint scraper.

Take your time, be patient, and the extra effort should be rewarding in the finished product.

I spent an additional $9.98 on sanding sponge and sand paper. I'm sure I will be buying more sand paper in the near future. I was short on cash the day I purchased this stuff, so I only bought what I absolutely needed. I still have to buy the fine and extra fine sand paper for finishing. I spent an additional 3.5 hours sanding the front, and will be sanding away throughout the week to try and finish this part of the project up.

Project time for this post : 3 hours 30 minutes
Total time spent on project so far : 19 hours 45 minutes
Total project cost so far : $22.62 USD