Types of Sandpaper to Finish Wooden Clogs

Sanding Clogs

• Sanding is vital to get the right finish on any project involving wood; decorated clogs are no exception. Although the eventual finish is typically painted on and, therefore, not abraded, most stages of preparation up to the application of the finish typically do involve sanding. Because of the convoluted and curved shapes of clogs, the use of sanding blocks or power sanders is seldom practical.

Commercial and Industrial Sandpaper

• Sandpaper is manufactured for commercial and industrial purposes; only commercial sandpaper is sold in hardware stores and home improvement centers. Industrial sandpaper uses abrasive material that is more resistant to wear and is attached to a better substrate with stronger adhesive. If you are intending to finish clogs on a professional level, the investment in an industrial platform and sandpaper may be worth considering.

Sandpaper Roughness

• For each stage of clog preparation, up to the application of the finish, choosing the correct sandpaper is vital to achieve the desired results. The roughness of sandpaper is measured in “grit.” A coarse grit is a rougher sandpaper than a fine-grit. Sandpaper grit is described in numeric values, and the smaller the number, the rougher the grit. A coarse grit falls between 40 and 60 grit while a very fine woodworking sandpaper is between 220 and 240 grit. Much finer grits are available, with values above 1,000, but these seldom have any place in woodworking.

Going Through the Grits

• Start your sanding project on your wooden clogs with the finest grit for the job. It is not recommended that an unnecessarily coarse grit be used, even for the initial shaping process. A grit that is too coarse will leave scour marks in the wood’s surface, especially in soft woods such as pine, making subsequent stages more troublesome and time-consuming. Practice on an off-cut to determine the coarsest grit you should start with on your clog-finishing project.

Sandpaper Clogs

• Sandpaper can clog up; this generally appears as small rolls of material on the sanded surface. If you turn over the sandpaper, you will see that the surface is no longer grainy but has become coated and -- often -- slightly discolored. This is due to clumps of varnish being pulled off the surface and formed into rolls by the sandpaper. This happens when the varnish has not been left on long enough to dry and cure before sanding. You can resolve the problem by leaving the project until the varnish has set and cured; try rubbing it with fresh sandpaper and when no more clumps appear, you can proceed. It is not typically necessary to sand down to bare wood and begin the project over. Use a fine paper, such as 180-grit, to sand away any ridges left by the clumping, follow up with very fine-grit then revarnish.