Sandpapering

Posted on September 5, 2004 in Activity

There’s peace to be had in sandpapering. I’ve been at a few decoupage projects lately, just to have something that stimulates the heart and the mind. If I cannot go out and see the rifts and the rolls of the land, I can go through my old photos and put them on a plaque.

Those who have never exercised this art must know that to achieve smoothness, you must begin with the coarse and end with the extra fine. A paper rough as a man’s beard should be selected first. Always sand with the grain unless you are seeking a swirled, injured wood effect. The object is to make the wood appear to be something else such as glass or metal. As you finish going over the body of the piece with the first grade of sandpaper, select the next finest grade, working your way through the spectrum of tans and beiges until the board feels anything like a board.

Do not fret if, when you reach the last stage and wipe the piece clean of the dust, if you find nicks and rippled gouges that you had not noticed when you commenced work. Wood is not a homogenous substance. Like the soils from which it grew, it varies in its textures. Your rubbing at it may have exposed soft strata hidden under a thin veneer of the hard. Simply go back to the beginning in those spots and come back to the end. In this way, it is like a diet or exercise program: having lapsed or found failure, you can always resume and return to the place of perfection.

Each piece of wood is its own territory. Running my fingers over the final result reminds me of the taming of a savage land, an adjustment to the terms of a scene, and the civilizing of primitive cellulose.