Finishing End grain

[pmur]

Hi, looking for some advice please. How do you finish end grain on boards etc if you are making a table top for instance. When you buy a piece of wooden furniture and it is polished or stained the end grain is usually as smooth as the side or the top.
Is there a special proceedure for this as I have sanded until I am blue in the face but never seem to get it really smooth. Also when you stain end grain it always goes darker than the rest of the wood. Is there a way to stop this?
I am fairly new to woodworking and could really do with some help.
Thanks,
Peter

 

[Mr T]

Hi Peter

It would be useful to know what wood you are using and what you did with it prior to starting to sand it. By using a really sharp plane you should be able to get the ends pretty smooth before you start sanding. What stain are you planning on using? If it is oil based you can prime the ends with white spirit to inpede the absorbtion of the stain.

Chris

 

[pmur]

Hi Chris,
The wood is just plain old cedar/pine. I always find that no matter how sharp the plane is you will get break out of the wood and end splitting. Not sure on the stain make up but I always find it turns the end grain really dark compared with the rest of the wood.
Thanks,
Peter