Description
This article is from the Woodworking FAQ
Collection 5, by multiple authors.
19 About sanders
From: bill@fedeva.UUCP (Bill Daniels)
Date: 20 Mar 90 13:02:55 GMT
A question about sander recommendations a bit ago prompted one reader
to ask for an explanation of the various types and how they might be used.
Here is my attempt at explaining their use.
A portable disk sander is not used often in woodworking. Metal workers and
body shops are more inclined to use this tool. Control of this tool is too
difficult on a soft surface such as wood. It tends to gouge anb tear wood.
There is a stationary disk sander that is used by woodworkers that can afford
the space and dollars. It is great for truing crosscuts or rounding ends of
a piece of lumber. It has a table that enables one to remain in control
which is a feature that the portable sander doesn't have.
A belt sander is one tool that helps cover mistakes. By varying the coarseness
of the sanding belt, one can use the belt sander to remove lots of wood fast
or finish out an every so slight bulge or bump. The belt sander can, however,
get away from you and damage your work so it must be used with care. If the
sander is not kept flat against the work, the edge of the belt will cut and
gouge, especially with a coarse belt. Many woodworkers that do not own
a thickness planer will use a belt sander to true glued panels. Lets say
that you need a piece 15" wide and you glue three 5-1/2" pieces together. Even
with nice clamps, dowels or biscuits, etc., it is almost impossible to not feel
and see the edge joints. Some quick work with the belt sander running bias to
the grain will smooth out those joints. But now the grain is all torn out
from the sandpaper running at an angle to the grain. The belt sander is then
run (with the same grade sandpaper) quickly with the grain. Repeat this
sanding with the grain through the proper range of sandpaper grits (oh, down
to about 120 let's say). Now you have a panel that looks and feels fairly
flat and smooth. But 120 grit sandpaper will leave scratches that will show
up terribly with stain. Oh, there is a stationary version of this tool as well.
Now comes the vibrating finishing sander. Some people swear by the sanders
that vibrate in-line or back-and-forth because the action can be forced to
go with the grain, which means the scratches are with the grain and easier
to hide during staining. I like orbital vibrating sanders (the action is little
circles) because they seem to work quicker and if you never skip grades of
sandpaper the finest grades used (320 or 400) don't leave any scratches that
show anyhow.
Anyway, using the finishing sander of choice, begin working through the grades
of sandpaper. It doesn't hurt to drop back one or two grades coarser that the
grade last used on the belt sander. Progress through all the grades of paper
with the finishing sander and the piece is ready for most any finish that you
could want to use. On extremely hard woods, sometimes 400 or finer sandpaper
is too fine. It sometimes leaves a surface that will not take stain readily.
If you think that this will be the case, don't sand down that fine.
By the way, I own an AEG 3x21 belt sander and a Makita palm finishing sander.
I wish that I hadn't cheaped out and bought the Makita instead of the
Porter-Cable 330. The Makita was about $10 less. It seemed like a good deal
at the time but what is $10 spread of many moons of use? I have used both
sanders and the P-C is a better tool IMHO.
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