Another beginner question.

My exposure to solid lumber has so far been mostly for face frames and
I've just guessed at how much I should sand and with what grits. I'd
always get up as far as 220, usually using three different grits. But I
have often wondered if that was necessary. Maybe.

I have an awful lot of small parts to sand. It occurs to me now that I
could even have sanded the stock before cutting it into a million (OK
32) 1x2x9" pieces, but I didn't. Then again I might have scratched it up
afterward during the rest of the operations.

Water under the bridge in any case.

This is all red oak from Lowe's. I sifted through just about all of the
1x2 and 1x3 they had and picked the straightest, least twisted, fewest
flaws, straightest grain. It feels pretty smooth, frankly. Given that,
what grit would you start with? If I need to do several steps that's
what I'll do, but if I'm wasting my time with coarser grits, I'd love to
know beforehand.

Any tips for sanding lots of small parts (no, no belt or drum sander
here) would be appreciated as well. I'm thinking of making a little
3-sided (maybe even 4-sided) "corral" of 1/2" ply with an open area
exactly the width of the pieces and a stop at one (maybe both) end(s).
That way I can drop in a piece, sand it, flip it over, sand it, and move
on to the next piece. I'd either have a second corral for sanding the
edges, or see if I could make do with just one.

I have also considered gluing down the sandpaper to a flat surface and
pushing the pieces back and forth on it, but with stock this thin (3/4")
it would be hard to grip it without sanding my fingertips off as well.

These are the kinds of things a weekends-only novice thinks of during
the week, by the way.

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