Question About Sanding Deck Planking (Beginner)

[Tsoupac]

Hello all,

I am building my first kit with no prior modeling or wood working experience. I am lining some parts of my frame and am going to put planks on the false deck and am wondering about techniques for sanding these planks. The instructions do not include any mention of sanding but from the research I've done, it seems like I should be sanding these planks. Is there a recommended grit sequence for sanding deck planking? I apologize if this has been covered but my search results have only come up with advice on sanding the hull planking which are decidedly much thicker strips of wood. I've attached a photo of one part of the frame lining for reference.

 

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Alex

 

 

 

 

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  You can use a small sanding block with a fine grit sandpaper wrapped around the block - say, 220 grit.  Lightly go over the area, and the block will insure only the 'high spots' are lessened.  Looking at your picture, it shouldn't take much - a few passes may do.

[Tsoupac]

19 minutes ago, Snug Harbor Johnny said:

  You can use a small sanding block with a fine grit sandpaper wrapped around the block - say, 220 grit.  Lightly go over the area, and the block will insure only the 'high spots' are lessened.  Looking at your picture, it shouldn't take much - a few passes may do.

Thanks for the advice. Would you recommend the same thing for the planking on the false deck? It’s the same plank materials. I’ve seen people say they do a progression like 150, 240, 320. 
 

Thanks again.

[vossiewulf]

The starting grit is defined by how rough the material is, and deck planking shouldn't be very rough. You should be able to sand your deck reasonably using 220 and 400 grit sandpapers. 

[Tsoupac]

4 minutes ago, vossiewulf said:

The starting grit is defined by how rough the material is, and deck planking shouldn't be very rough. You should be able to sand your deck reasonably using 220 and 400 grit sandpapers. 

That makes sense. Thank you.

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

If anything, when in doubt, start with a higher number (finer grit) paper first (like 320) and just see what it does.  You can always go coarser if you need to, rather than start too coarse - that can put scratches in the wood that have to be further sanded down with finer grits to remove, and that can make the planking get too thin.

[Tsoupac]

2 hours ago, Snug Harbor Johnny said:

If anything, when in doubt, start with a higher number (finer grit) paper first (like 320) and just see what it does.  You can always go coarser if you need to, rather than start too coarse - that can put scratches in the wood that have to be further sanded down with finer grits to remove, and that can make the planking get too thin.

Very helpful advice. Thanks again.

[Dr PR]

The quality of the wood in kits varies a lot. My experience with cheaper kits is that the planks can vary in thickness as much as 50%. If this is the case you have to grind down the thicker planks to match the thickness of the lower planks.

 

You can mitigate the problem a bit by using the thicker planks near the centerline and the thinnest on the outboard sides of the deck.

 

Johnny is right about coarser grits leaving deep scratches in the wood. t can be very difficult to remove these with finer grit sand paper! An alternative is to use a scraper to take off the high spots. A single edge razor blade (or just about any knife edge) will do. Just hold it perpendicular to the plank surface and drag it along, pressing gently, to scrape off the top surface. Use minimum force until you get the feel of it.

 

Use 300-600 grit sand paper to finish it, and even #0000 steel wool. But be sure to remove all fragments from the steel wool before finishing the deck - they can rust with time and cause nasty discoloration of the wood!