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Just realized I've been sanding with the grain wrong for maybe a decade. A client pointed out a scratch pattern on a walnut table I refinished.
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leewalker19d ago
Yeah, the part about "honest character" really hits home. I read an article by a furniture restorer who said the old hand plane marks and sanding patterns are like a signature. They show the work was done by a person, not a machine. @the_anthony is onto something about clients looking that close. If the finish feels smooth and looks good from a normal distance, that's what matters most. Getting hung up on perfect, invisible scratches under a raking light is a modern problem. That client was hunting for something to complain about.
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the_anthony19d ago
Consider how many perfect finishes were done "wrong" before anyone had a magnifying glass. Maybe @king.eric had it right and the scratch pattern just adds honest character. A client looking that close is probably looking for problems anyway.
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