Hard Pine

I don't know why I think of pine as a softwood.  Like heck it is.  Not yellow pine, at least.  I just tried sanding down my topmost stair tread with 60 grit paper on my mouse sander, and it made hardly an impression on it.  And that was going at it for several minutes.  (The photo is an after picture.)

Phooey.  I`ve just ordered a 40 grit hook-and-loop roll from the Online Industrial Supply people (they're running a pretty good sale, if anyone's interested), and another roll in 120 grit, for the pre-finish smooth sanding.  If the 40 grit doesn't do it, that'll mean buying a more powerful sander.  I don't think hiring a floor sander would do any good, on these winders. 

So that's a couple more days of waiting.  Though why that should bother me, I don't know.  Just because I'm suddenly in the mood to get this all done doesn't mean I should gripe at a little more delay.

Besides, in the meantime I can mix up my dark shellac and tackle stairparts down in the workshop, right?