Stain wants one grit, poly wants another

[nkpaintingvt]

I need to stain some maple stair treads to Minwax's Dark Walnut color. The Minwax stain wants a 220 sanded finish.

Most floor polys I've looked at want a rougher finish, around 100 grit.

So...where to end with my finish sanding? I want to sand the maple enough, but I also want to give that poly a rough enough surface.

Thoughts?

 

[BigfootBuilder]

I've used this stuff, I didn't know that other poly's require less than 220, but this Varathane specs 150-220...

 

[nkpaintingvt]

Thanks for the reply Bigfoot.

That's still a decent difference is finish grit though, any thoughts on any practical adhesion issues if I sand a bit high?

 

[BigfootBuilder]

I'd defer to someone more knowledgeable on the subject, but just to be clear, it does spec down to 220, which is what you want right?

 

[leakyroof]

If you sand to a high grit, you may not get as much stain penetration / color build on that maple. I would use the color level you're looking to get as your goal . For flooring, most specs do seem to max out at 150 grit often, but I had thought much of that was for stain control, not the clear finish. Maybe our two resident flooring guys, PA floor guy and Walks On Wood can clarify things for us.  [popcorn]