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I haven't heard much about when you should "raise the grain" in wood. What's the purpose, and will it make the wood look better.
From what I've read, the wood has water put on it, dries, then sanded, then done again till it stops(raising). Are there woods that should always have this procedure done, or is it personal prefrence? Do I have the technique down right?

Thanks
Dave

I do it if I am going to apply water based aniline dyes directly to the bare wood in a hand rubbed sunburst. To avoid blotches it is necessary to use quite a bit of liquid on spruce in this process, and if the grain has not been raised and sanded back a few times before you start, the surface will get pretty fuzzy when the wet dyes go on and it can leave an uneven color appearance.

If I am only spraying clear nitro it serves no purpose as far as I can tell.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

The idea is that a sanded surface will have many shredded wood fibers left, still attached and lying on the surface of the wood. Wetting these fibers makes them expand and 'stand up' so that they can be more easily removed with further sanding when dry.
Left on the wood surface, these fibers will act like tiny paint brushes and pick up extra stain, etc and cause 'blotches'.
If the surface has been planed or scraped smooth, wetting is generally unnecessary.
John

I like to use some shellac before sanding. This seems to raise the grain adequately enough...

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