Making a home bar do i need to sand it?

Im making a home bar with the plans from this site http://www.barplansonline.com/Step_1_-_Supplies.html . I was wondering if I needed to sand the wood after its done? If so how much sanding is needed? What happens if it is not sanded (if need be) and it is stained? Can it be painted with out sanding? What kind of sand paper is needed if so?Making a home bar do i need to sand it?
Not sanding it will give it a rustic look so if you want a smooth finish yes you will need to sand it . Start with a medium grit and then a fine grit.Making a home bar do i need to sand it?
If you want it to look professional you should sand it. It's not really necessary, but sanding gives it a nice smooth finish to apply the stain to and eliminates any split edges or ends that may cause splinters.



I would use a medium grit sandpaper.Making a home bar do i need to sand it?
If you are using plywood you can get away without sanding it. There are 2 ways of putting on a stain, one is applying a coat of a wood preservative to fill in the pores of the wood (Minwax has a good product) and then apply a stain, the other way is to apply the stain directly to the plywood, the problem with doing it this way is the stain sinks right in and sometimes you end up having to give it another coat and then it may not be even in color. When your finished apply one or more coats of Polyurethane to further protect the finish. On the Bar top I would use an oil based Polyurethane and put on 3 or 4 coats. The water based Poly is okay but I find that it takes twice as much to do the job but it dries faster. Oh by the way when doing the top lightly sand it between coats for a real smooth finish. You might want to give it a couple of extra coats.

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