Backgammon – Panel Sanding

This section shows sanding the laminated panels made for backgammon, but fits anything you’re using a drum sander on. I also use this method for sanding other larger panel projects like chess boards or cutting boards. Trying to get multiple species of wood level is sometimes difficult, and using a random orbit sander, even for those that use the festool stuff, is a challenge. I use a drum sander for leveling panels but there is a down side to this tool. You end up with linear sanding scratches, and no matter what grit you finish with, you can still see linear sanding marks.

The picture on the left is pictured in the early morning sun, The right panel is pictured in the sun mid day. You can see scratches on both panels, and this glue up has a cross-grain part that really shows the scratches. These are sanded with 150 grit and it is expected to have large sand scratches. You can do a drum sander with 220 grit, but will still have these lines showing, and I often do sand to 220 with a drum sander, but you have to use a random orbit to get the linear scratches to go away.

Here are these same two panels after I’ve sanded to 220 with a random orbit sander. Both panels are in reasonably the same sunlight as well.

These will get sanded with a random orbit sander to 320, and one should always go through the grits in order to get rid of sand scratches. How fine you sand is up to you, and there is a variety of opinion on how fine to go, I rarely go any finer than 320, and most of the time I only go to 220. The point is, you should not see any sand scratches before you apply finish. To know if you’re good enough, use some lacquer thinner on a shop towel to wet the surface lightly and see what the wood looks like. It will show scratches if there are any, the wood will look much like the applied finish will make it look. Let the thinner dry before applying any finish or doing more sanding if you need to.