Sanding and Finishing

Sanding by hand, starting with 120 and then using 320.

Something I had not realised previously was that there are differnet grains for sanding, you have to start with the most coarse and then work your way up, from 120 (coarse) to 320 (fine). 
Sanding for me was a relatively new concept and seemed like something that everyone had their own way of doing. Some people taped sand paper to the desk and used it as a level plane. Some people attached the sand paper to timber blocks, this is what I did and used it to evenly sand a flat surface. Some people used the orbital sander and some people used the electrical belt sander (not what it is called but my description of). This provided confusing to me. 
I devided on hand sanding it, using a block, but then learning, from John, that the orbital sander if best to use to get marks off of the timber. Since I borrowed a timber piece from another student it had a big pen line running across it. The orbital sander buffed this off quickly, where as I could not get it off by hand without indenting that part of the timber too much.
The process reminded me of lithography, when we were grinding the stone back to a blank image, we would work in circular motions around the stone with water and different grains of black ‘sand’, starting with the most coarse, washing it completely off and working to the finest, similar to sanding the table.

Finishes as suggested by Matty: 
Clear polyeurothane (water based) applied with a paint brush, sponge or rag

Tung oil/ a little bit darker

Danish oil/ darker

Scandinavia oil

Beeswax

I went to Bunnings, Collingwood to choose my finish. I learnt that there are three types (to keep it simple). Stain, varnish and oil. Within those there are different colours for stain, different finishes for varnish and oil, matte, satin and gloss. I picked bees wax because of personal preference and willingness to try it over a strategical reason. I thought it smelled nice and seemed natural. I also wanted the timber to keep it’s lighter colour.

When applying the finish, I made sure that all the sanding was finished. I then wiped the table down with a cloth to make sure any dust was removed. I read that I should use a rag to apply a small amount of the beeswax to the table, it was softer than expected and a ‘small’ amount was a little more than I intially thoguht. I used a black rag and this meant that some of the fibres came off in the wood filler. I would apply the beeswax to the edges, quickly buffing and trying to keep it as even as possible. It would seep in very quickly.

In heinsight I would have not used a black rag and removed the pen, with the orbital sander, from the table and added the magnets before applying the finish. This would have saved the need to put the finish on twice and would have allowed for a more even finish.

Overall I really liked the finish of the beeswax and it lived up to my expectations.