Abrasive Observations......... Festool & Norton

[monte]

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Some Abrasive Observations,

I have in my arsenal all of Festool's sanders and sandpapers, so you could imagine the sandpaper collection support group that stands behind them.
I am very happy with the both the Rubins and Brilliants when using them in their respective tasks.

Last month over at Woodnet, Holbren was running a annual sale on a select groupings of sandpapers.
I noticed some 220 & 180 disks that were Festool compatible for my ETS 150, so I ordered a box of each to test out the waters.

In the meantime I'm finishing up a mahogany dining room table that I'm at the finishing stage of.
As I'm working up the grits to the finer levels I've developed a habit of giving the table a wiping coat of paint thinner with a splash (of the stain color I'll be using)
mixed in that I wipe table down between grits in order to be on the lookout for any sanding marks I might have missed.

After giving it the time to dry I then proceed with the next grit level. So because of the slight color residue within the wood there is a clear
sighting of what is being sanded and at what point the disc is getting tired.

I decided to give the Norton's a try and noticed that they seem to be lasting longer without any detriment to the mahoganny.

So . . . . .

This is a long winded question to others out there if you've found similar results.
. . .  or different.

cheers,
Roger

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                                                            Festool                                                         Norton

 

[DavidW]

Roger, I've been using the trick of wiping with solvent and a low angle light to see scratches, but adding stain "to see where you've been" is great, I'll have to try it.
Thanks, David Werkheiser

 

[Kapitaldream]

Roger I just read your post and am wondering if the Norton discs are performing better as you post indicated.
Thanks
Steve

 

[Brice Burrell]

Roger, I'm not the biggest fan of Rubin. (I started a thread about my thoughts on this abrasive, Rubin sandpaper, my relationship with it.) It cuts like a champ at first but fades quickly. However, I feel the rest of the Festool specialty abrasives are top notch for their given applications so I won't be replacing them anytime soon. The Rubin in my collection, on the other hand, will be phased out.

The one thing I'll say Festool is lacking is in their abrasive lineup is an all purpose abrasive (the closest one might be Brilliant.) I had the folks at 2sand.com send me some samples of Rhynogrip (and Abranet). The Rhynogrip is a very good all purpose sandpaper. It's reasonably priced making it a good value. I wrote about my first impressions of the Rhynogrip on my site, you can check it out here.

 

[tvgordon]

I used Norton but mostly Klingspor sandpaper on my other sanders.  Has anyone compared the Klingspor paper to Festool's sandpaper?  I noticed they offer 5" and 6" paper with the Festool hole pattern in the recent Klingspor catalog.

Tom

 

[NVA_WW]

I received the klingspor catalog right after I purchased some sandpaper for a belt sander.  It's tempting to buy the Festool sandpaper to give it a try.  There are a couple of free shipping coupons for Klingspor if you spend over $25.

 

[Dave Ronyak]

I've been very satisfied with various Klingspor abrasives I have purchased and used >20 years, and especially their service in the past.  Before I even knew of Festool's existence I was sanding the parquet floor of my home with a Bosch 5" RO sander, and in the Klingspor catalogue of that time (Winter of 2001-2002) the coarsest H&L disks they offered to fit my sander were 50 or 60 grit (I don't remember exactly).  When I called them to ask if they had a coarser grit available, their lady agent said they did not stock any, but they would custom make me whatever I needed.  I ordered 40 grit open coat stearated H&L disks and received them in about 10 days.  The cost was surprisingly little more than stock disks in their catalogue.  P.S.  That floor came out great!

Dave R.