Do I need to sand this unfinished table?
A nice trick (learned as a wood turner) is to spritz some mineral spirits on the wood. I usually use rubbing alcohol, as I keep that around. (Not mineral oil, as that will not evaporate.) Anything that will "wet" the wood, but evaporate quickly without leaving a residue, and without raising the grain as water would do. Water is bad of course in this context, since it causes the cells in the wood to expand, raising the grain. The idea is to see what the wood looks like when wet. It will often bring out scratches that remain from sanding, or other tool marks.