Hot take: I quit sanding to 220 on pine trim after seeing a guy's staircase in Boise
I always figured finer grit meant a better finish, so I ran everything up to 220 and sometimes 320 on pine. Then a trim guy in Boise showed me a staircase he built, one side sanded to 220 and the other stopped at 150, and the 150 side took stain way more even with hardly any blotching. He said going past 150 just burnishes the wood and shuts the pores, which is why my stain kept coming out patchy on that knotty pine job in Nampa. So now I stop at 150 on pine and save myself about an hour per room. Anybody else notice stain grabbing better when you back off the fine grit?