Which Fine Sanding before finishing with oil

[planeur]

Bonjour !

How fine are you sanding with paper before finishing with oil ?
They say that the more you use fine paper as 240 and finer ,best is the result , more uniform and less wood contrast !

What are your experiences ?
I did some test on cherry on one side I stopped at 150 and on the other side at 240, better result, and I can see a difference, less contrasts !

Merci

planeur

[Quartz43]

For almost everything I go to 220.

[scrollerpete]

I go to 320 and when I do charcuterie board or live edge tables I go as far as 400 and 600

[Rolf]

Project dependent 220 for my Intarsia 320 on flat surfaces.

[Sandy Oaks]

Most of my finishing is with a Mac Mop #240.

[NC Scroller]

On plywood I normally sand to 150 or 180. I do the same on red oak and poplar. On other hardwood like walnut, cherry and maple I will sand to 320. One of the secrets to sanding is to not skip grits so you would go 80,100, 120, 150, 180, etc.

[will8989]

I go to 250 on boards before I cut them. I sand to 400 after cutting and before gluing up. Doing so many shows, we noticed the first thing someone does is run their fingers across the piece for smoothness and if a basket, around the top rung to make sure it’s perfect. Of course it is. As SLRA, for the newbies Straight Lines Right Angles aka husband, says sanding is a finishing step not correction - last part directed at me. He sands to 1000+ on his bird houses and pepper grinders and finishes with a polish. When a customer says “the basket feels soft” or checks the grinder to make sure it is wood, you know you nailed it. And it is priced accordingly.

[Quartz43]

As I wrote earlier, I go to 220 on bare wood. Between coats, I use 220 after first coat due to grain being raised. After subsequent coats I use either 320 or 0000 steel wool. For a final coat, I sometimes use a brown shopping bag paper.