SurfPrep offers a wide selection and variety of abrasives. Many times, there is not one “correct” answer to this question, but in some cases there is.
If you are new to finishing, the primary thing you should know is that sanding tasks require an order of grits, also called a ” sanding schedule”, to achieve the best results. This is true whether using the sandpaper, film, or screens when sanding. To do this, you need to understand why sandpaper is numbered as such, 80, 100, 120, 150, 180, 220, 320 and so on. The lower numbered grits are coarser, or more abrasive, and the higher numbered grits are finer and less abrasive. When sanding any substrate, you start with a lower grit and move successively higher in number, preferably moving to a higher grit in single increments and not skipping any. You can occasionally skip one grit and still achieve good results, but we recommend progressing one numerical grit at a time.
SurfPrep’s foam abrasives, though designated as Coarse, Coarse+, Medium, Medium+, Fine, Very Fine, Super Fine, and Super Fine+, follow the same principles.
The more coarse and medium foam abrasives are used primarily for finish removal or scuff sanding on things like chair spindles, rungs, profiles, and detailed trim. The finer abrasives are best utilized when sanding in between sealer, primer, and finish coats and smooth out nibs and imperfections in your coats. They also provide a scratch to these coats to provide a good mechanical bond for your next coat to adhere to. Although available in a wide range of grits, foam sanding abrasives were not designed to “level sand” or aggressively cut or strip sand.
