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

 

[brianhr]

Why not enhance it with a cleat end?

 

[steve66]

straight edge,half inch router with a large straight flute router cutter, you'll only need to take off half a mill to get rid of saw marks before finishing off by sanding smooth

 

[brianhabby]

I have sanded until I am blue in the face but never seem to get it really smooth

How are you sanding?

You are comparing your efforts with that of a manufacturer who has a lot more kit than you (I assume).

If you are sanding by hand then you probably will go blue, and maybe a few other colours as well. A belt or disc sander will probably give you the finish that you are after but the surface will also improve as you build up a finish on it.

The end grain on these dice is just a smooth, if not smoother, than the sides. They were sanded on a belt sander and finished with several coats of oil.

Hope that helps

regards

Brian

 

[pmur]

Thanks for the advice guys I'll try these tips.

Peter

 

[woodbloke]

End grain shouldn't cause too much of a problem, bearing in mind that the grain will 'raise' once a finish has been applied. Simply de-nib with some fine, or even better, worn 320g paper and apply another coat of polish. Use a sharp, low angle plane like a block to clean up and then apply the finish - Rob

 

[9fingers]

I seem to remember reading something about sanding end grain either a couple of grades finer or coarser than the other faces and the stain would soak in to a similar degree on all faces. Trouble is I can't remember which way round

I've used sanding sealer on endgrain before to help control stain. It was a question of trying out how much to sand the sealer so the stain had some effect but not soak right through.

Bob