On 7/23/2013 12:04 AM, djc wrote:
Hi all. Rookie woodworker here with a rookie mistake. After gluing and biscuiting my first table top, I had a few seams that were not flush (kinda far off). I used 40 grit sandpaper to sand down the joints and then proceeded up to 400 grit. It felt smooth to the touch and I went ahead and stained and put a coat of polyurethane on. After the poly, the subtle rough edges became very apparent. Is that normal? (ie for a poly to enhance mistakes)

I thought a couple more coats of poly would smooth them out since they are not too deep, but did not do much. Any recommendations? I am not sure if there is a special lacquer that could fill in the scratches, or if I just apply a heavier amount poly and sand out, or just go back to square one and resand to the way it should've been.

Any feedback would be most welcome. Thank you.



The question to ask is, when you went through 40 grit to 400 grit did
you progress through all the grits with out skipping a grit?

Did you wipe down the surface between grits to insure that no grit was
left behind from the previous?

If you skipped grits, actually you can normally skip "1" grit, you have
not removed the previous grits scratch marks.

And FWIW you can normally stop sanding at 180 or 220 when applying poly.