Sanding a Door for Dummies

Results of sanding across the grain

We just love it when people who know nothing about a task try to tell us how it's supposed to be done. Many of the self-appointed freelance "experts" at eHow fit that description perfectly, googling a question the OQ should have googled him- or her-self in the first place, then rewording the first search result or two. We suspect that's exactly what happened this time, when Patrick Nelson tried to answer the eternal question, "What Is the Correct Way to Sand a Wood Door?" at HomeSteady.com.

Nelson, whose credentials include having "studied design" (whatever that might mean) and a stint as a music journalist, merely browsed through the owner's manuals of a couple of Craftsman sanders. That's why Patrick only managed to compile a set of instructions that boils down to little more than telling people to

Use a belt sander with 60-grit sandpaper Use a palm sander with 80 to 100-grit sandpaper if the door has never "been planed" 120 to 150-grit sandpaper for "doors that have been planed" Really? That's all you have to say, Patrick? What's all this crap about having been planed, anyway? Did you think the OQ wanted to know: how to sand down a barn door? No, you were just rewording a chart in an owners manual...

Sorry, Mr. Nelson, there's a lot more to sanding a door than this; beginning with the fact that doors aren't all built the same way: applying a belt sander with 60-grit sandpaper to a hollow-core door would take off its lauan veneer in seconds! Solid wood doors are almost always built with rail and stile construction – the grain in stiles runs vertically; in rails, horizontally – but nowhere does Nelson mention sanding with the grain! And finally, after sanding with medium-grit sandpaper (that's what 150 grit is), Patrick says to

"Wipe the door down with a damp sponge when you're done. Then apply a thin coat of paint or varnish to the door. When the paint or varnish has dried, go over the door with the palm sander, using 180-220 grit sandpaper. Palm sand again with 240 or more grit for the final finish."

Really? where did he get that bull?! He got by rewording a chart (one he didn't understand) in this owner's manual, conflating applying a finish with finish sanding.
This is what you get when you ask a "journalist" who may well have never held an electric sander in his hands and sure as heck has never sanded a door to tell you how it's done. You get utter bull: something that would leave your door looking as if it had been attacked by a homesick puppy — and that's work quite deserving of our Dumbass of the Day award.

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