Also, make sure that the sandpaper is 90 grit, and don’t forget to clean the plywood after sanding. When building with plywood, you will often want to stain and finish the surface to enhance your project's beauty. Reply. Plywood is an amazingly versatile building material. Plywood consists of thin sheets of wood veneer pressed and glued together. Sand the plywood with 220-grit sandpaper to smooth down the grain. Getting a real mirror finish takes time and patience and a lot of elbow grease, but the results may be worth it. Reply Delete. Since you are sanding the finish -- and not the wood -- you can sand in any direction, even in circles. Because it is made of thin strips of wood glued together with adhesive, it is a very efficient product to produce and is thus inexpensive. I have experimented with other variations and included some additional products that are worth noting, like epoxy resins, that when cured give a hard shiny finish as well. And many of the lower grades of plywood do not take stain or even paint well. Replies. None of the polishers I spoke to recommend hand polish. Plywood is not the best quality timber but you can get a good finish by using certain products. Quality grades are given to plywood based on the roughness of the surface and the number of blemishes the sheet contains. Plywood, no matter the grade, must be repeatedly sanded with varying grits of sandpaper before a applying a high-gloss finish. Plywood is frequently overlooked as a finish wood because it is so inexpensive and easy to obtain. I am working with birch plywood. But if you use a grade A plywood then there’s no need to worry. Wipe off the soap-like dust with a rag when you finish. If you want to use plywood that is less than grade A then you have to sand it before you start the steps that I am going to tell below. Then sand with progressively finer grades, then polish through still finer grades, then buff. Aug 9, 2012 - How to Polish Plywood. Indian Woodworker 20 June, 2013. Buff the plywood with a good quality carnauba wood floor wax. Then again, if I was going to do that I would want to at least put a good-looking layer of veneer on the plywood first, so you aren't looking at awful ply through that nice finish. There are many variations of getting the smooth shiny finish on plywood, but I’ve found the above method to work best. Begin first by sanding with 120 grit sandpaper. But, plywood is still wood, and with a little bit of intelligent planning, attention to detail and … Before you sand, the surface will feel rough and grainy, and afterwards it should feel smooth and almost soapy. Indian: Doing a cost-benefit analysis of various polishing options would depend entirely on the scope of work, quality of plywood and other factors. Plywood is compiled from sleazy flakes of piles and glued with each other. 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