Some sage advice from a member of the turning club
of which I am a member -

IF YOU'RE GOING TO SAND, USE SANDPAPER AS IF IT'S FREE.

Now think about how you use sandpaper.

Do you pay a bit more to get very uniform abrasive
particle sizes? Are you even aware of the different
grades of sandpaper, not "grits", but the degree of
uniformity of the particle sizes for a specific grit?
Doesn't take many particles of "190 grit" in your
"200 grit" paper to show.

When the piece of sandpaper you're sanding with
starts "loading up", do you chuck it and grab a
new one? Or do you try and wring every bit of
abrassive out of each piece 'til it stops cutting
and starts burnishing - or worse yet - burning?

If you've gotten to "320" and notice a ding you
missed, will you go back to 180 or even 150 to
get it out - or hope your finish will hide it?

Like all other forms of woodworking (OK so
maybe chainsaw carving is an exception), if
you're going to do a piece, start to finish,
EVERY step along the way will show in the
finished piece. If you have to sand, remeber
"Penny Wise, Pound Foolish"? Well that might
be another way of putting

IF YOU'RE GOING TO SAND, USE SANDPAPER AS IF IT'S FREE.

You'll be amazed at the finsih you can get
BEFORE you "apply a finish" - IF you take
this sage advice to heart.

Oh, and if "Abralon" doesn't mean anything to you
you might look into it. You'd be amazed how smooth
and shiny you can get a piece of wood.

charlie b