sToolman said:
Alright Tim, You have me on the fence again. I'm gonna be goin by a Rockler tomorrow. Gonna stop in and give each a test drive before I decide. I'll keep ya toasted.
From reading this thread since you posed the original question, it appears that most respondents did not give much consideration to the fact that much of the work you contemplate doing with your sander will be on a [nearly] vertical surface as you sand portions of those chairs. Although the weight of the ETS 150 is certainly much less than that of any Rotex, it is also much greater (about twice) that of the ETS 125. If you have a lot of vertical work to do, as I had on the trim of my house, I recommend the 125. Like Brice said, I find my ETS 125 to be quite smooth. In fact, just before coming to FOG this evening, I spent several hours using my ETS 125 sanding an old dresser I am restoring and refinishing. The light weight and easy one-handed control of this 125 sander make it very useful for sanding many of the surfaces, with a little help from my Deltex and LS 130 for certain areas. Due to the size and weight of the dresser, and my working alone, I prefer to leave it in one position and sand both vertical and horizontal surfaces. I also used the ETS 125 to break all the sharp edges on the drawers. That could be done with a larger, heavier sander, but would be more difficult for me to control. The cost of abrasives for the 125 is not a big deal. Some dealers will sell split packs. I'm using mostly Rubin, and some Brilliant and some Cristal.
July 13 update. After writing the above I finished refinishing the dresser (thanks Jerry Work for your manuals/tutorials on Target Coatings [Oxford brand] water-based finishes and HVLP spraying]. [December 18 update is photo below. Sorry, I don't have one of the Shaker table yet.]
So I asked my wife what project she would like me to do next and she led me to the scratched top of our old shaker style table about 2 x 2 ft across its top and asked if I could do something to hide those deep scratches through the finish, which she thought was varnish applied by her mother. I took it to the garage/shop and in less than 3 minutes with my RO 125 and some 80 and 100 grit Cristal had the top completely down to bare wood. That is when I started to realize what I was dealing with - a true antique with most components made of American chestnut except for the turned legs which are curly (fiddleback) maple), handcut doveltails and a uniquely? sculpted drawer bottom and drawer back, countersink holes carved with a spoon bit and a few square nails holding the drawer bottom to the drawer back. I switched to my ETS 125 for better control to strip most of the apron pieces extending between adjacent pairs of the legs, then used my Deltex to do the inside corners that could not be reached with the ETS 125. I also used my ETS 125 to clean the underside of the top that extended ~1 inch beyond the aprons and legs. I think the ETS 125 is much easier to balance and control in this usage than the ETS 150. I also used the Deltex 93 with its extended reach pad support to sand the inside of the drawer frame opening. I also use the Deltex to sand the inside corner areas of the bottom of the drawer; the drawer was just large enough to enable use of the Deltex on the inside corners of the drawer bottom if I scrunched up the power cord and vacuum hose. I switched to my Proxon delta head sander to sand the ~1/8 inch offset of the legs relative to the apron pieces. The vibration/oscillation of the Deltex 93 is too large to do this effectively; the sander bounces and repeatedly slips off the inside corner, and is simply not as effective or controllable as the Proxon in this application. [The Proxon is essentially a miniature version of the Fein Multi-Master in sanding mode.] I completed sanding of all of the many surfaces and inside angles of this table and its single drawer in less than one hour. Sanding the long spindle turned legs took about 7 times as long, due to need to carefully hand sand them and the complexity of the turnings and many heavy runs of varnish to be removed.
Now I have another color matching challenge as I refinish it, after I add a kicker to the underside of the top to prevent the drawer from tipping as it is pulled out. I have no pieces of chestnut or soft maple to experiment with regarding the effect of various stain/coloring materials. I learned that chestnut is a very soft wood compared to cherry or walnut. The natural color of the top is much like an aged cherry - reddish brown.
As I examined this old table more thoroughly, it became clear that it had been very neglected for during some of its lifetime; inside I found the remains of several mud wasps nests and other evidence of near abandonment and exposure to extreme moisture, and many deep stains (which I have not attempted to remove). I realize to the purist/collector I have probably further lowered the value of an antique, but my family will welcome its return as a much more attractive and useful piece of furniture in our home. I wish that I could have photographed or videographed removal of the old finish; this project showed the value of having a variety of types and sizes of sanders.
Dave R.
