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Sometimes you don’t know until you are exposed to a better alternative than what you are used to.
Definitely right on that front. For a long time I was stubbornly in the camp of “buy whatever’s the cheapest per square inch”, but I’ve come to realize that sanding is much more enjoyable when you use quality paper.
I’m still in the “use whatever’s cheapest” camp, but that’s primarily because it’s also what’s most readily available. I have a discount at the local hardware store where I get $3 on purchases over $15 and $10 off anything over $75, so I’m usually grabbing a small handful of discs at various grits to push the balance over the limit. And since I’m not doing a ton of sanding (it’s regular, but usually less than half an hour a day) that keeps me in sand paper, basically for free (or even a discount on the other materials I’m buying)
But I also am solely using either my 5″ Bosch ROS or the 6″ 1250DEVS, and the hardware store sells 5″ and 6″ pads individually for about $.8/ea.
I need to figure out the brand though. It seems to last for a good amount of time, but I also am guilty of continuing to use a disc until it is worn through the paper…
Charlie
__________________I usually buy bulk packs of sheet sandpaper at my Hardware store. I find it not too bad. I have bought more expensive sandpaper at Lowes that was suppose last 3X as long. I wasn’t impressed with it. Wife got me some sandpaper from the Dollar store. It was all that great. I used for different things.
Greg
Do More of What Makes You Happybut I also am guilty of continuing to use a disc until it is worn through the paper…
Trying to get every last little bit out of your papers like that makes the sanding process much longer. I read an article some years ago that said in some cases that it can double your sanding time doing this which also means double the electricity and even more in wear and tear on your sander. Think about it, as a paper dulls, people often do what they should never do which is to press down on their sander rather than allowing the paper to do the sanding which causes the sander to get hotter than it should.
The trick imo, and is what I try to do myself, is not to look at what’s left to determine when to ditch a paper, but instead to ‘feel’ it’s still ‘cutting either by comparing it to a little used paper of the same grit, or simply by the ‘feel’ of how well it is still sanding.
Nice to say all this, but getting rid of the old habit is hard. Even once I learned this it took me a while to start tossing 70-80% used papers away, but once you start doing this, you will start to notice at times how it really does speed up the sanding process.
Sandpaper there are two schools School #1 use that paper as long as possible and get every last cent of value out of it and School #2 change it often to keep sanding performance at peak saving time and energy. Neither school can convince the other that their method is wrong. What there needs to be is a cost comparison between the 2 schools showing all of the costs and savings with each school. Two identical pieces of work the same paper and grits, the same tool the same guy, one piece he sands with School #1 and the other with School #2 to the same degree of finish. Then you start figuring all the costs paper, energy, and labor time with each method to see what one is the most cost effective.
Automotive Pro
Fayetteville, NCSandpaper there are two schools School #1 use that paper as long as possible and get every last cent of value out of it and School #2 change it often to keep sanding performance at peak saving time and energy. Neither school can convince the other that their method is wrong. What there needs to be is a cost comparison between the 2 schools showing all of the costs and savings with each school. Two identical pieces of work the same paper and grits, the same tool the same guy, one piece he sands with School #1 and the other with School #2 to the same degree of finish. Then you start figuring all the costs paper, energy, and labor time with each method to see what one is the most cost effective.
Here’s a cost comparison among some top brands as well as an evaluation of finish from each one. A good place to start.
https://www.woodmagazine.com/woodworking-tools/reviews/sanders/sanding-discs
BE the change you want to see.
Even if you can’t Be The Pro… Be The Poster you’d want to read.Sandpaper there are two schools School #1 use that paper as long as possible and get every last cent of value out of it and School #2 change it often to keep sanding performance at peak saving time and energy. Neither school can convince the other that their method is wrong. What there needs to be is a cost comparison between the 2 schools showing all of the costs and savings with each school. Two identical pieces of work the same paper and grits, the same tool the same guy, one piece he sands with School #1 and the other with School #2 to the same degree of finish. Then you start figuring all the costs paper, energy, and labor time with each method to see what one is the most cost effective.
Here’s a cost comparison among some top brands as well as an evaluation of finish from each one. A good place to start.
https://www.woodmagazine.com/woodworking-tools/reviews/sanders/sanding-discs
That is a good place to start Peter! Thanks for sharing.
Greg
Do More of What Makes You HappySandpaper there are two schools School #1 use that paper as long as possible and get every last cent of value out of it and School #2 change it often to keep sanding performance at peak saving time and energy. Neither school can convince the other that their method is wrong. What there needs to be is a cost comparison between the 2 schools showing all of the costs and savings with each school. Two identical pieces of work the same paper and grits, the same tool the same guy, one piece he sands with School #1 and the other with School #2 to the same degree of finish. Then you start figuring all the costs paper, energy, and labor time with each method to see what one is the most cost effective.
Here’s a cost comparison among some top brands as well as an evaluation of finish from each one. A good place to start.
https://www.woodmagazine.com/woodworking-tools/reviews/sanders/sanding-discs
That is a good place to start Peter! Thanks for sharing.
It does outline some of the top brands, but I’m not overly sure of their methodology and briefish review of this. Grain of salt time for me on this one.
Here’s a cost comparison among some top brands as well as an evaluation of finish from each one. A good place to start.
Thank you for the link Peter. Good info on the discs.
Automotive Pro
Fayetteville, NCfor me it depends, with regular sanders which use the holey disc papers, i use whatever I have on hand. For the 1/2 sheet and my disc grinder, i’ll use expensive sheets. rhynowet is my preferred brand, and of course I can’t get them in Canada.
I decided to try out some Abranet. I ordered an assortment pack with a few different grits and some backer pads just to see how they perform. After receiving 5” backer pads when I ordered 6” pads, I finally got the correct ones today! Looking forward to trying these things out as they seem to get stellar reviews.
About the back up pads…these are supposed to be Mirka brand, but they are totally unmarked. Anyone else own these that can help me out? Are these real or generic sold as the real thing?
Jon P.
Timber Carpentry & Construction
https://www.facebook.com/timbercarpentry/
InstagramAttachments:
About the back up pads…these are supposed to be Mirka brand, but they are totally unmarked. Anyone else own these that can help me out? Are these real or generic sold as the real thing?
From the picture it looks like the pad I purchased for the Abranet (ordered the Abranet offering). That assortment pack is a good way to try it out. I am pretty sure you will be pleased.
About the back up pads…these are supposed to be Mirka brand, but they are totally unmarked. Anyone else own these that can help me out? Are these real or generic sold as the real thing?
Here’s the Mirka backing pads I got. I received them from Mirka Canada directly as part of a gift pack a couple of years ago so I’m pretty certain they are genuine Mirkas.
Your pic doesn’t show any holes in your pads that I can discern. Maybe Mirka does make some like that so you can make holes for some non-Mirka sanders hole configurations to be used, but that you’d have to check maybe on their website or by calling them. My sander is the Deros 5in model.
EDIT: Ooops… I had forgotten to include pic I took earlier.
Attachments:
I decided to try out some Abranet
Interested to see how the Abranets work out Jon. Been looking at them but have stuck with traditional sandpaper up to now.
Automotive Pro
Fayetteville, NCThat’s what mine look like @doobie. They are all stacked up in the picture, so the holes aren’t as visible.
I just found it odd that they aren’t marked and came in a bag rather than a Mirka box.
Jon P.
Timber Carpentry & Construction
https://www.facebook.com/timbercarpentry/
InstagramI decided to try out some Abranet
Interested to see how the Abranets work out Jon. Been looking at them but have stuck with traditional sandpaper up to now.
Switch. Abranet is all I use now. Lasts longer, and I dont need to keep different stocks to cover the different hole patterns between Bosch and Festool
Sandpaper there are two schools School #1 use that paper as long as possible and get every last cent of value out of it and School #2 change it often to keep sanding performance at peak saving time and energy. Neither school can convince the other that their method is wrong. What there needs to be is a cost comparison between the 2 schools showing all of the costs and savings with each school. Two identical pieces of work the same paper and grits, the same tool the same guy, one piece he sands with School #1 and the other with School #2 to the same degree of finish. Then you start figuring all the costs paper, energy, and labor time with each method to see what one is the most cost effective.
Here’s a cost comparison among some top brands as well as an evaluation of finish from each one. A good place to start.
https://www.woodmagazine.com/woodworking-tools/reviews/sanders/sanding-discs
That article had some good info – thanks for posting that!
I have been using a brand called PASCO Gold discs. They are $.79 a disc at the hardware store, sold individually with a 10% discount for buying the cases of 100, but I usually get them for free because of a discount I have. So you can’t really beat that, lol. They seem to be fairly decent – but I’ve definitely used them in the past till I was digging the sander into the work piece and I’m trying to get away from that. It was a bad habit I developed using a Dewalt sander but now I’ve ditched that and moved even from my 5” Bosch ROS to the 1250devs, I rarely even feel the need to do anything but float around on top of a work piece because it works so quickly.
I would think that different sanders would handle different sanding disks differently too, but that makes for a ton of variables to test for!
Charlie
__________________but I also am guilty of continuing to use a disc until it is worn through the paper…
Trying to get every last little bit out of your papers like that makes the sanding process much longer. I read an article some years ago that said in some cases that it can double your sanding time doing this which also means double the electricity and even more in wear and tear on your sander. Think about it, as a paper dulls, people often do what they should never do which is to press down on their sander rather than allowing the paper to do the sanding which causes the sander to get hotter than it should.
The trick imo, and is what I try to do myself, is not to look at what’s left to determine when to ditch a paper, but instead to ‘feel’ it’s still ‘cutting either by comparing it to a little used paper of the same grit, or simply by the ‘feel’ of how well it is still sanding.
Nice to say all this, but getting rid of the old habit is hard. Even once I learned this it took me a while to start tossing 70-80% used papers away, but once you start doing this, you will start to notice at times how it really does speed up the sanding process.
Great information right there. I do the same – feels wasteful, but then again – time is money.
Stan
From the Northwest corner of Montana.That’s what mine look like @doobie. They are all stacked up in the picture, so the holes aren’t as visible.
I just found it odd that they aren’t marked and came in a bag rather than a Mirka box.
Mine came in a Mirka bag as well.
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