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After stripping varnish off furniture, start sanding at 150 grit if the wood came out clean, or at 120 grit if there’s leftover residue or the stripper raised the grain. Stop at 180 grit for most stains, or 180–220 for water-based stain, dye, and clear finishes. You don’t need 60 or 80 grit. The stripper already did the heavy removal, so coarse paper just leaves deep scratches you then have to sand out, and on veneer it can cut right through.
Why Stripped Wood Needs Less Sanding Than You Expect
Coarse grits are for cutting through a finish. Once a chemical stripper has dissolved the varnish, you’re left with bare wood that may be a little fuzzy, faintly tinted by old stain, or carrying a thin film of residue. At this point you’re leveling and refining, not removing. A light pass with fine paper also confirms the old finish is really gone.
That’s why the starting grit matters. Each grit after the first only erases the scratches from the one before it. If you start at 80 when 120 would have worked, you’ve added two extra steps and removed wood you can’t put back: the patina, the crisp edges on moldings, and on veneered pieces, the veneer itself.
Grit Sequence by Situation
Find the row that matches your piece and the finish you’re putting on next. “Stop at” means the final grit on flat faces. Take end grain one grit finer so it doesn’t soak up extra stain and turn dark.
| Situation | Start grit | Sequence | Stop at |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solid wood, stripped clean, oil-based stain next | 150 (120 on open-grain oak or ash) | 150 → 180 | 180 |
| Stripper residue, spots of missed finish, or raised grain (after washing and drying) | 120 | 120 → 150 → 180 | Depends on next finish |
| Veneered top, drawer front, or panel | 150 (120 by hand on stubborn spots only) | 150 → 180 | 180 |
| Water-based stain or dye on closed-grain wood (cherry, maple, birch, pine) | 150 | 150 → 220 | 220 |
| Water-based stain on open-grain wood (oak, ash, mahogany) | 120 | 120 → 150 → 180 | 180 |
| Paint next | 120 | 120 → 150 | 150–180, then primer |
| Clear finish only, no stain | 120–150 | 150 → 180 (→ 220) | 150–180 under oil-based; 180–220 under water-based |
| Blotch-prone wood (pine, cherry, maple, birch) with oil-based stain | 150 | 150 → 180 | 180, plus pre-stain conditioner or gel stain |
| Varnish removed by sanding instead of stripper | 80 or 100 | 80/100 → 120 → 150 → 180 | Per the rows above |
These sequences line up with published manufacturer guidance. General Finishes, for example, says to sand closed-grain woods no finer than 180 grit before its oil-based stains, and recommends 150 followed by 220 before its water-based stains on the same woods.
When Not to Go Past 180 or 220
It’s tempting to keep going to 320 or 400, because smoother seems better. Before stain, that usually backfires. Very fine grits burnish the surface and close off the pores, so the stain sits on top instead of soaking in. The color comes out lighter and often uneven.
Sources disagree at the edges. Some finishers stop at 150 on open-grain oak, which hides scratches well, and a few take hard maple past 220. A dependable middle ground is 180 for oil-based wiping stains, 220 for water-based stain and dye on tight-grained wood, and 150–180 for paint. Test the full sequence on the underside or back of the piece before you commit. For paint, sanding finer gains you nothing, because primer needs a little tooth to grip.
Clear finishes tolerate finer sanding, but even there, 220 is plenty on bare wood. The first coat raises the grain anyway. Scuffing between coats with 320 does more for the final feel than taking bare wood to 400.
Veneer: Sand Less, Sand Gently
Most furniture built in the last several decades has veneered tops, drawer fronts, and case sides. Commercial veneer is often only about 0.5–0.6 mm thick (roughly 1/40 inch). If the piece has been refinished before, there may be even less left. Here are signs you’re working on veneer:
- The grain on the edge doesn’t continue from the top.
- There’s a thin line just below the surface along the edge.
- The same figure repeats in mirror image across the top (book-matching).
How to sand it safely:
- Never start below 120 on veneer. 150 is the safer default.
- Let a random-orbit sander’s own weight do the work. Don’t press down, keep it moving slowly, and never park it in one spot.
- Hand-sand within about an inch of edges and corners. Burn-through almost always happens there, because the pad tips and concentrates pressure.
- If a different color starts to show through, usually a lighter core or a dark glue line, stop immediately. More sanding only makes the hole bigger.
Dealing With Stripper Residue and Raised Grain
If the paper loads up with gummy balls within a few strokes, you’re sanding leftover finish or stripper wax, not wood. Stop. Sanding gummy residue only smears it into the pores, where it will block stain later. Instead, wash the surface with whatever the stripper label specifies. Many solvent and citrus gels contain wax to slow evaporation and call for mineral spirits or naphtha. Caustic removers need a water or vinegar-and-water rinse. If shiny patches of finish remain, give those spots another round of stripper.
Let the wood dry overnight before you sand. Water rinses swell the surface fibers and leave the grain fuzzy. That’s what 120 grit is for: one pass levels the fuzz, and then you move on to 150 and 180. Starting at 80 to “get it smooth” just trades the fuzz for deep scratches.
If a water-based stain or dye comes next, raise the grain on purpose. Wipe the sanded surface with a cloth dampened with distilled water, let it dry, and knock the whiskers down lightly with your final grit. That way the stain itself won’t raise them.
Technique That Keeps Each Grit Honest
- Don’t skip more than one step. Going from 120 straight to 180 works in a pinch. Going from 80 to 180 leaves scratches that 180 can’t remove in a reasonable amount of time.
- Use the pencil trick. Before each grit, draw light, squiggly pencil lines across the surface. When they’ve all disappeared evenly, that grit has done its job.
- Clean up between grits. Vacuum or wipe off the dust before switching paper. A single stray 120-grit particle trapped under 180 paper will cut a fresh scratch.
- Finish by hand, with the grain. After the last machine grit, hand-sand with the same grit on a block, following the grain. This removes the faint swirls an orbital sander leaves, which stain will otherwise highlight.
- Use flexible abrasives on profiles. Foam sanding pads or folded paper follow moldings and turned legs. A hard block will flatten crisp details.
How to Tell You’re Done
Sanding scratches are nearly invisible on dry bare wood and painfully obvious under stain. Check before you open the can:
- Raking light: Hold a flashlight or work light low, almost parallel to the surface, and look across it from several directions. Swirls and cross-grain scratches cast tiny shadows.
- Solvent wipe: Wipe a section with mineral spirits or naphtha. Wet wood shows scratches, glue spots, and missed finish (shiny or blotchy areas) much as stain will. Let it evaporate completely before continuing.
- Touch: Run your fingertips across the grain. Raised grain feels like light velvet, while a properly sanded surface feels even.
- Old color vs. old finish: A trace of old stain left in the pores is normal and usually disappears under the new color. Shiny patches aren’t normal. That’s finish, and it needs stripper, not more sanding.
Safety Notes
Wear a well-fitting N95 or better respirator while sanding, and hook the sander to a shop vacuum or dust extractor whenever you can. If the piece has paint layers and dates from before 1978, test for lead before sanding anything. And if you follow up with an oil-based stain or oil finish, lay the used rags flat outdoors to dry or seal them in a metal can filled with water, because rags soaked with drying oils can heat up and ignite on their own.
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