Recently I have had to sand some birds eye maple, walnut and a tiger striped veneer. I had great difficulty ine avoiding scratching the veneer with all three types. The veneers were all pressed in a vacuumbag onto 3/4″ medite at my work. First I blocked the veneer with 120 followed by machining with 180 grit. I just found that I spent what I seemed an enormous amount of time removing scratches no matter how gentle or aggressive I was. I would like to see a forum or video on sanding various types of veneers. So my Question would be how do the pros recommend tackling this scenario.
Crpntr5
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You skipped ahead... you should have followed 120 grit with 150 grit then 180 grit on the machine followed by 180 grit sanding sponge by hand. Try it that way! The sanding sponges give a smoother finish because of their cushioning effect. I always get the block sponges (with grit on 4 sides) rather than the sheets (with grit on one side) because they are easier to hold and readily used with very light pressure... the sheets seem to melt when I use them, messing up the work. After all of this work apply a sanding sealer (I favor Zinser's dewaxed shellac) and resand with 180 grit sponges. After topcoating you may choose to polish. I like the gray woven abrasive pads (000 steel wool rating) and will follow with the white pads (0000 steel wool rating) for more sheen when desired.
You don't say what type of machine you used.
With veneers, I never use a ROS, I use an orbital pad sander which is a lot less agressive and does not leave many swirl marks. I start with 150 very lightly. Then I quickly move up to 180 and then finish by hand sanding with 180 on a sanding pad.
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