PROJECT APPEARANCE
FINISHING A WOOD PROJECT makes a durable material even more durable and gives it its final appearance at the same time. A rustic appearance can be produced by simply staining or painting or varnishing a freshly cut workpiece. This gives an interesting appearance to the work and provides a measure of protection for the wood. But usually, one wants a higher level of finish and that will involve planing and sanding to smooth the workpiece and then application of materials to improve appearance and durability of the wood. Each stage of the finishing process can involve various steps and the care taken by the worker will affect the final product.
CUTTING OUT PROJECT PIECES
The first part of finishing begins with cutting out the parts because using a cutting tool that is too coarse will leave marks that are hard to remove. A rustic appearance can be produced by a coarse cutting tool and that is fine if one desires that appearance in the finished product. Most of the time, projects are supposed to end up smooth and that is where a finer toothed saw is going to make sanding easier. Course cutting teeth usually make cutting faster and finer teeth slow down the cutting but produce a smoother cut and slower cutting often means faster sanding. A coarse rasp will remove wood quickly but leave a surface that is difficult to finish.
Another way to make the cut smoother is to slow down the feed of the part through a cutting tool. Move a router slower to produce smoother parts for instance. Push parts through a saw slower to reduce course tool marks. The best way to get a smooth cut is to use a fine toothed saw and feed the part through the saw slowly.
A sharp blade is always going to give better cuts than a dull one. This includes saws, planers, routers, drills and carving knives. Sharp tools can save a lot of work in finishing.
In cutting out the project: 1. Select the appropriate cutting tool 2. Feed the part through the cutting tool at an appropriate rate 3. Use sharp tools.
