I've gathered that the step immediately before staining a table is to sand it. However, I wonder how to tell when the table is smooth enough? Can I skip the sanding step?
In my case I bought an unfinished pine table (new, not antique) which, to my touch, is rather smooth. Running my finger across the tabletop, I can only feel the largest grains. I even see some sawdust around the drawers, which makes me think it was already sanded.