Lightly sand with 220 grit paper a very fine steel wool works too and clean with a tack cloth between coats.
Sanding wood table top.
A typical varnish and stain removal method is sanding.
Residue left in the grain lines of coarse grain wood will be trapped under the final coat and haunt you forever.
Sandpaper grit size is important when sanding tables.
Staining the wood causes the wood fibers to swell as they soak up the stain.
If you sand through the polyurethane and remove some stain you can touch up with more.
The higher the number the finer the grade.
The grade or grit of sandpaper is based on the number of sand granules per square inch of paper.
Lower numbered grades denote.
However we didn t want to sand the varnish off of this table because it was thick and doing so could remove too much wood and make the table top look uneven or imperfect.
The reason for sanding between coats is to knock down the swollen fibers to maintain a smooth surface.
Wipe the surface of the entire table using the tack cloth.
A little basic knowledge of sanding and preparing wood before staining will help your staining project go faster and easier.
Sand the table beginning with the coarsest grit sandpaper 100 grit and sanding in the direction of the wood grain.
Sanding also creates a ton of dust and is a lot of work.
Next sand the table with the 150 grit paper and finish by sanding with the 220 grit paper.
As the table dries after wet sanding a white residue will appear.
Be sure to clean it off completely.