# Pine or Fir is soft wood with harder grain



## Rob Allgood (Jul 15, 2014)

what I am trying to accomplish: background ...
black smooth semi glossy finish without grain of wood showing through.
this project has 8 in radius corners cut from 3 pieces of wood jointed and glued to turn 90 deg then cut with band saw for radius then sanded smooth with coarse grit sandpaper. this produces a somewhat wavy surface from the soft and hard parts of the grain. 
some of you are probably thinking good luck with that.:laugh:
What is the best way to harden the soft parts of the wood to match the harder grain 
so it will sand more evenly. and can i ever get a smooth flat finish.

I was hoping a sanding sealer would help?? at this point I need some suggestions.

yellow glue as a sealer/hardener

I have water base polyurethane which is hard when dry that is can use as sanding sealer. but seams to take a lot of coats.
ANY SUGGESTIONS?


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

MDF doesn't show grain. Many glues will clog sandpaper if you try to sand them. D fir is possibly the worst of all woods to show grain. Quarter sawn will probably show grain less but it would be a terrible waste to paint it. Sanding sealer might help but I'm thinking you might need quite a few coats of paint with sanding in between to get what you want.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Rob Allgood said:


> What is the best way to harden the soft parts of the wood to match the harder grain so it will sand more evenly. and can i ever get a smooth flat finish.
> 
> I was hoping a sanding sealer would help?? at this point I need some suggestions.
> 
> ...


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## jdonhowe (Sep 12, 2009)

One thing you might consider is Minwax Wood Hardener. It's used to penetrate and harden dry rot affected wood.

Basically, it's a hard plastic (polycarbonate, I think) dissolved in acetone, and I've heard of some people making their own by tossing scraps of Lexan into a bottle of acetone. It should penetrate the softer grains very well, and hardens them to, well, hard plastic.

I think that it should make even sanding much easier. I bought a bottle at Home Depot a couple of years ago, but not sure if they still carry it. BTW, in my experience uneven grain sanding happens more easily with coarser grits- you might get acceptable results just by going to finer grit sandpaper.

As a teacher liked to tell me, my advice is free and worth every cent 

Good luck.


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