Burnishing and scraping

[duelist1954]

I was over at Woodcrafters today, and the clerk who was helping me recommended that I sand to 220 grit, then carve, then burnish and finally scrape.

Do any of you do it that way?

In the past, I'd sand to 600 grit, whisker...whisker...whisker...etc...then do any carving.

 

[Swamp Rat]

Mr. B., been reading on here for a while that most don't go past 220 sanding and some just scrape. Trying to remember the minimum that Zonie said would cut the whiskers and not just push them down.

 

[necchi]

It's Maple, 600 is way to fine unless you like rubbing.
Whiskering several times is a good thing, during the wet process of whiskering you should be able to see any scratches left from the sand paper. I don't think much finer than 320 is needed especially if your going to scrape.

Just look at it in the light, as in a bright lamp shinning across the surface, things you don't like can be worked more if you feel the need.

 

[mikemeteor]

220, scrape, then burnish with smooth hickory rod AFTER Ferric nitrate coloring but before sealer works for me.
I scrape early n often and handle the wood a lot, seems to be no whiskering needed.

When i moved away from sanding and moved to scraping with various shaped and modified utility knife blades, it made a world of difference, to my eye anyway.


/mike

 

[Zonie]

I never sand wood using a sandpaper finer than 220 grit.

IMO, even that is overkill. 160 or 180 is a much better grit to stop at.

The finer grits don't remove enough material to make using them on bare wood worth the effort.
After all, even a close grain wood like maple is nothing but a very porous surface.
Greatly magnified, a surface of clean bare wood looks like a pocketed minefield even after it is sanded with 600 grit paper so don't bother trying to use it. Its use will gain you nothing.

In fact, using grits finer than 220 will actually crush some of the wood into the open pores making staining difficult.

 

[Kenny54]

as a life long woodworker/finisher :thumbsup: to zonie.

 

[Jason Lewis]

i sand to 220, stain, 1rst coat of sealer, whisker, then burnish. after that, 1 more coat of sealer, whisker, then alternate finish and whisker till it gets to were i want it.

 

[duelist1954]

I'll have to bow to your greater experience, but I'm surprised. I can feel a tremendous difference between a stock I've sanded with 220 grit vs one I've gone all the way to 600.

The 600 sanded stocks feel as slick as an old bone. But you do have to let the stain work longer with a 600 sanded stock.

That said I'll stop at 220 on the current gun and then scrape.

 

[chuck-ia]

OK, probably a dumb question. But, why sand and then scrape? Is it the finished look of a scraped rifle you are looking for? flinch

 

[Birddog6]

The reason it feels so slick with 600 is the dust is filling the pores.

I sand to 220 & start looking for scratches to work out.

Wet it with a damp towel & your scratches will stand out & the fibers will stand up. Work them off scraping them opposite the grain, LIGHTLY with a scraping tool. (You are actually cutting the fibers off rather than pushing them down)

Scraping them is tedious, as you can case more scratches than you already had if not very careful....

Keith Lisle

 

[duelist1954]

That makes sense. I'll try your method. Thanks