How To Clean Wood After Sanding

Once youre done sanding make sure youve gotten rid of ALL the sanding dust before you do anything else.

How to clean wood after sanding. Another fast and effortless way to clean hardwood after sanding is vacuuming. Before doing anything else with your woodwork rub a tack cloth over the entire surface of the wood to remove the dust and residue. It is good to use a shop vac to clean the surface between sanding grits removing the larger grit particles from the wood before sanding with the next higher grit.

But it would be great if you got a microfiber dust mop since little fibers are likely to drag dust and dirt with them. Additionally using a dust mop also helps remove dust particles in the air. Then switch to fine sandpaper 200 grit until the entire piece is uniform.

Mineral Spirits Yet a more thorough way of cleaning the fine dust particles from a sanded wood floor left behind after vacuuming or dust mopping. For a clean finish hold the sanding block flat firmly applying even pressure while moving back and forth in the same direction as the grain. To remove those last bits of finish palm sand with medium sandpaper 150 grit until you see the bare wood.

The next step is the trick here. If you seek a perfect finish make sure the tack cloth glides smoothly over the wood as you wipe. Always see to it that you will be sanding along the wood grain.

Wipe down the whole surface with a tack cloth to remove any dust from sanding. If your pressure treated lumber looks like the photo above after sanding the urge is to sand deeper to remove all the coating to make it look more even. Using a water-free solvent such as mineral spirits to clean such soft dust particles will be ideal.

A light coating of finish after sanding disguises the area. Do not use recycled mineral spirits as they can affect your wood in a negative way. Wipe the surface thoroughly with a a wet cloth.