Old timer told me to stop using my palm sander on face frames, he was right

Been doing cabinets for about 7 years and always used a palm sander with 120 grit on my face frames before finishing. An older guy I subbed for in Cleveland watched me for a minute and said, "you're gonna burn through those miters before you even stain." I brushed him off but 2 days later I saw exactly what he meant, the edges had a wavy dip that showed up plain as day under the pre-stain. Switched to a sanding block with 150 and went with the grain, took maybe 5 extra minutes per frame but the corners came out razor sharp. Anyone else get humbled by a 60 year old trick that seems too simple to matter?

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shane2441mo ago

Yeah the block keeps the paper flat so you hit the high spots instead of carving the edges down.