Possible stupid question about handles

I am still very new to making knives and am having a problem when shaping the handles on a full tang knife. How do you make the handle material flush, in this case wood, without scratching the tang. I can get close, but every time I seem to scratch the heck out of the tang somewhere whether I am shaping with files, sandpaper, or a belt grinder. Do you polish just the tang at the end with a very small sanding stick to get out scratches or am I just not taking my finish to a fine enough grit? I am sure the answer is an obvious one, but so far has escaped me. Thanks for yall's help.

I usually flush mine up and THEN take everything to the highest grit that I'm going to on the knife to make everything uniform.

Yep, what AR said...

If I am bolting them on, I will shape and sand everything down while bolted together, then remove the scales and make sure the tang is clean.
If they are epoxied/pinned on, I'll end up cleaning up the tang along with the handle anyway...

Redfishin,
The info above is perfect, you just got ahead of the process, but I do want to say, that HERE, THERE ARE NO DUMB QUESTIONS!!!! Except the one you didn't ask, now I'm not saying that you should ask every basic question, new makers are expected to do their own research, dig, read, study, everything you can get your hands on. BUT! If you hit a hard spot that is causing problems that is why we are here, to help each other out!

Knife making takes a burning desire that drives you CRAZY when you're not making knives, and drives you CRAZY when you are!!! And then you make one, ....just one that people say, Nice, or WOW! or anything slightly positive about it, and you can forget it, it's a rush like no other and from that point forward your chasing that same feeling by making something better! Enjoy, Rex