Abrasive for the RTS 400

[Brian Livingstone]

Hi,

I just bought a new RTS400 sander from Lee Valley.  All they had in stock for abrasives was the Brilliant 2 paper.  I build cabinets from solid hardwoods, and am going to  use the RTS400 to sand face frames. 

Is the Brilliant 2 a good choice for sanding hardwood ?  I usually use 80/100/120 grits before staining and clear coats.

Thank you.

Brian Livingstone
Fall River, Nova Scotia, Canada

 

[ccarrolladams]

Hi Brian,

Like you I own a shop where we build custom cabinets, almost always from hardwood.

We mill all of our hardwood from rough lumber, so it has been jointed and planed before assembly.

Since it became available in North America my go-to abrasive has been Granat. Previously for years I had great success with Rubin in the coarser grits and Brilliant II for 120 grit and finer, although we usually are asked to stop at 120 grit. All of my wholesale clients have business relationships with finish contractors. Of course should anyone want us to sand finer, we are happy to do so. I stock Granat for all my sanders.

 

[semenza]

The Brilliant 2 will work well on bare wood.

Personally I have not liked the Granat 150 and down on bare wood. I still prefer Rubin and Brilliant on bare wood. I do like the 320, 400 Granat on finish.  The 100 Granat for knocking down glue squeeze out but with an almost toss up between the Granat and Cristal on the the glue. I havn't tried other grits yet.

I have used these types / grits on ETS150/5 and Rotex 150. So results may be different on the RTS 400.

Just my opinion from my own use.

Seth

 

[AlexThePalex]

Brilliant works just fine on bare wood. Rubin will do a better job, but if that's not available you'll get perfectly good results with Brilliant.