courtneych
Member
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2013
- Messages
- 6
She Who Must Be Obeyed commanded that I do something about our aging kitchen cabinets. Installed in 1986, the finish on the oak cabinets was dirty and deteriorating, but the cabinets were in good shape otherwise, with the exception of one dog-chewed lower door somewhat hidden under an overhanging bar top. After choking on the price of new cabinets, I decided to refinish the old ones.
The result of my initial attempt at refinishing one unit of drawers was quite satisfactory, but there were issues . . . First of all, the process took forever. My DeWalt random orbit sander frequently clogged the Norton 3x papers, so I often had to resort to card scrapers to remove most of the old finish. That sander also left me with a numb hand and covered in dust after just an hour's use. My only Festool sander was an ETS 125, which did a wonderful job with the finer grits when prepping the face frames and drawers to receive the new finish, but it lacked the power to cut through the old finish using coarser grits. Additionally, all of the edges and corners had to be sanded by hand. Then I looked at all the remaining cabinets and became very discouraged.
When the wife complained about the amount of time that the drawer unit was unusable and the sawdust scattered all over her kitchen, I saw the opportunity to make a silk purse out of this sow’s ear. “Honey, I can get this job done a lot faster and with less mess if I bought a couple more Festool sanders, and it still would be a lot cheaper than new cabinets.”
This gained me her permission to purchase an ETS 150/5 and an RO 90, plus a broad assortment of Festool sandpapers. My thinking on purchasing these two sanders was that the ETS 150 would power through the old finish (using 80 Granat) on the flat surfaces and prep those surfaces (using 120 Rubin) for final sanding, which I did with the ETS 125 (using 180 Brilliant). Had I not already had the ETS 125, I most likely would have purchased the ETS 150/3, but this way I had a pair of sanders that could handle coarse to medium work and medium to fine work. As I had hoped, the RO 90 worked brilliantly in corners and edges in random orbit and delta modes, plus I used it in RO mode on a couple of stubborn spots in flat areas. I still had to do a little hand sanding of some decorative door trim, but my total time to prep a unit for finishing was reduced to less than 20% the time spent on that first unit, and thanks to my CT 33 there was virtually no dust. Suddenly this job is no longer daunting, and I expect to be finished with it shortly.
I had considered purchasing one of the larger RO sanders in place of the ETS 150/5, but both of the larger RO sanders seemed too awkward to me for this purpose as compared to the ETS sanders. Besides, for seriously coarse work I already had a battered, but still functional, RAS 115 that the owner of a defunct boat building shop threw in when I purchased his old CT 33.
I have drunk a lot of green Kool Aide over the past few years, and every time I do, I am never disappointed with the outcome.
The result of my initial attempt at refinishing one unit of drawers was quite satisfactory, but there were issues . . . First of all, the process took forever. My DeWalt random orbit sander frequently clogged the Norton 3x papers, so I often had to resort to card scrapers to remove most of the old finish. That sander also left me with a numb hand and covered in dust after just an hour's use. My only Festool sander was an ETS 125, which did a wonderful job with the finer grits when prepping the face frames and drawers to receive the new finish, but it lacked the power to cut through the old finish using coarser grits. Additionally, all of the edges and corners had to be sanded by hand. Then I looked at all the remaining cabinets and became very discouraged.
When the wife complained about the amount of time that the drawer unit was unusable and the sawdust scattered all over her kitchen, I saw the opportunity to make a silk purse out of this sow’s ear. “Honey, I can get this job done a lot faster and with less mess if I bought a couple more Festool sanders, and it still would be a lot cheaper than new cabinets.”
This gained me her permission to purchase an ETS 150/5 and an RO 90, plus a broad assortment of Festool sandpapers. My thinking on purchasing these two sanders was that the ETS 150 would power through the old finish (using 80 Granat) on the flat surfaces and prep those surfaces (using 120 Rubin) for final sanding, which I did with the ETS 125 (using 180 Brilliant). Had I not already had the ETS 125, I most likely would have purchased the ETS 150/3, but this way I had a pair of sanders that could handle coarse to medium work and medium to fine work. As I had hoped, the RO 90 worked brilliantly in corners and edges in random orbit and delta modes, plus I used it in RO mode on a couple of stubborn spots in flat areas. I still had to do a little hand sanding of some decorative door trim, but my total time to prep a unit for finishing was reduced to less than 20% the time spent on that first unit, and thanks to my CT 33 there was virtually no dust. Suddenly this job is no longer daunting, and I expect to be finished with it shortly.
I had considered purchasing one of the larger RO sanders in place of the ETS 150/5, but both of the larger RO sanders seemed too awkward to me for this purpose as compared to the ETS sanders. Besides, for seriously coarse work I already had a battered, but still functional, RAS 115 that the owner of a defunct boat building shop threw in when I purchased his old CT 33.
I have drunk a lot of green Kool Aide over the past few years, and every time I do, I am never disappointed with the outcome.
