A smooth finish is very important in woodworking. If your work does not have a smooth finish, the woodwork of your project will not be as beautiful as you expect. The simple answer to what you should do in this regard is that first, you should clean the wood thoroughly. Many carpenters do not get a good finish in their work despite the fact that they work so hard, but do not clean the wood, thus wasting their hard work.
If you do not want your hard work to go to waste, that you certainly do, then you should first clean the wood thoroughly before starting the project. So, in simple & concise terms, it would not be wrong to say that the first and most basic thing to do to achieve a smooth finish in woodworking is to clean the wood thoroughly.
The main reason for this is that grease, dirt, or dust often remains in the wood. As long as grease, dirt, and dust remain in the wood, it is not possible to achieve a smooth finish on the wood. Therefore, as I mentioned above, you should first clean the wood so that the grease, dirt, and dust on it do not remain in it, and finally you can get a smooth finish.
What do you have to clean the wood with?
It is also important to understand what you have to clean the wood with. To clean the wood, a carpenter asks their young apprentice to give them a dirty cloth so that they can clean the wood. This idea is completely wrong! To clean the wood, you should have a clean cloth, or you can also use a vacuum cleaner for this purpose.
Small cracks or fissures in the wood
It is also worth noting that there may be small cracks or fissures in the wood. Examine the wood carefully & see that there are no cracks or holes in it. If there are any cracks or fissures, fill them thoroughly. If you do not do this, you will not get the smoothness of the wood, which may affect your woodwork.
The way you need to use the wood filler
Do not fill cracks and holes in wood with any type of wood filler or non-wooden material. Instead, fill cracks and holes in wood using high-quality wood filler. When you fill wood with a quality filler, the filler that is there will come out a little, so it is important to smooth out the excess filler that has come out of the cracks and holes with fine sandpaper so that the filler stays in the hole as much as it should be and doesn’t come out of the hole.
The most important step in smoothing wood
Sanding is the most important step in smoothing wood, which starts after cleaning. You can use sandpapers of different grits for sanding. First, use coarse sandpaper, and then use fine sandpaper. This way, your wood will become perfectly smooth. After following the steps mentioned above, the last step is to apply a finishing that is of a standard.