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Hi,

Is it just me or i always get problems sanding the heel transition. I have added a picture of the problem are circled in red, the blue arrows show the directions I'm sanding and those sections clean up nicely. Its just that transition thats cloudy

Anything I'm doing wrong please?



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All that matters is whether the scratches will disappear under the finish. Sand to 320grit and then wet with solvent and see how it looks -- you shouldn't see any scratches. If you do, then keep sanding until they disappear. Usually the grain will look scratched or "cloudy" in certain locations but it just doesn't matter so long as it will look good once the finish is applied.

It doesn't matter which direction you sand the endgrain but I usually try to have my final passes with 320 go from the neck and up the heel. I almost always have to come back and address a couple spots to remove deeper scratches that didn't get removed when going through the grits. Don't stop at 220grit tho' -- I've found that isn't fine enough to remove scratches that may be visible under finish.

If you shellac it and then continue refining, it will go more easily than on bare wood. But depending on your finishing process, you may need to keep it bare. Z-poxy would probably do the trick too, although I haven't used it myself. Just something to lock the endgrain fibers in place while you sand/scrape them.

I also like wiping some shellac on as long as your finish process is compatible.

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Keep in mind my necks don't have that radical of a transition, but what do you mean by "cloudy?" it looks like the effect of light or dust from the pic. In any case, grain looks very different at different angles, so if you want a very dramatic transition and still want to avoid a difference in grain appearance, I would suggest sealing the grain well before finishing to avoid uneven absorption of material.

Scratches are, imho, a completely different issue to what I think you are describing, and something I don't see at all in that pic of your problem area.

Looks like dust in the end grain. As suggested seal with shellac before final sanding after brushing away excess dust.

After a tip from Addam Stark years ago I got a Porter Cable Speed Bloc 330 1/4 sheet sander.

https://www.amazon.com/PORTER-CABLE-330 ... op?ie=UTF8

The rounded area where the sandpaper wraps around the edges of the pad in the front and back are great for getting into curved transition areas both at the heel and headstock. It’s been a Godsend for me in getting final scratches out of these areas. It is a finish sander with a small orbit.

I usually use Naptha to reveal scratches. I always have to go back at least once or twice to get areas I thought I had covered. You have to blow out the area with compressed air first.

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I like to use Naptha too because shellac gums up paper. Also, try using a scraper there. That will get you below any scratched fast then you can finish off with paper.