KentonIwao said:
Rubin gives the best finish on bare wood because it is close coated (the grit particles are spaced close together). It is very noticeable, not just some B.S. to get you to buy more sandpaper. Much smoother surface with smaller scratches, therefore, it cuts slower. For smoothing of show surfaces in preparation for finishing, you are wasting your time to use any thing else.
Until early 2006 I had used a wide variety of sand papers. Sometimes I would go a couple of years not needing to buy more abrasives. Then I drank the green Kool-Aide. One Friday in Mid-January 2006 I bought a TS55, 3 rails, the accessory kit, many clamps and a CT22. That Saturday I bought a cleaning set with a 36mm AS hose and the plate for the side of the TS55. The next Wednesday I bought an OF1010, the LR-32 kit and a 1080mm Holy Rail. By now I was hooked.
None of the various brands of sanders I then owned felt right to me any longer. That Saturday I returned to my dealer, where I am sure my name was written on a parking spot, for my first Festool round sander. I think it was a RO 150, but it might have been a previous model. Where the Festool paper comes in is that despite owning boxes of abrasives, I owned round 150mm or any with holes.
Jesse Barragán who owns Eagle Tools in Los Angeles has been my woodworking go-to expert for a very long time. The first time that January when I visited his then new location and saw the Festool display room, Jesse introduced me to Raúl Dena as his resident Festool specialist. So, even before I decided on the sander I asked them for abrasive recommendations. I told them that I would not be removing finish since I only would use machined lumber and plywood. I think Brilliant II was available then, and they told me about its virtues in the finer grits. I mentioned that since I would not be applying the finish to my projects, I probably would normally stop at 120 grit, and possibly go to 150 or 180 grit.
They encouraged me to try some of the coarser Brilliant II, but actually recommended Rubin. To me that was a thrilling experience. Even with hardly any experience with that powerful sander, with a hard pad and Rubin the system felt so natural to me. I bought minimum quantity packs of Rubin from maximum coarse up to 180 grit. I also bought some Brilliant II up to 240 grit. Over the ensuing years I added a lot of Festool sanders and as my work volume increased I bought bigger packs of Rubin.
About 2009, I think, I had the chance to try some Granat while in Europe. I also think Festool was showing it at AWFS in Las Vegas. I admit to being skeptical and cautious. Various Festool experts admitted their Granat started out intended for auto paint finishing. Back then there were many articles and reviews worried that Granat might be a problem with staining wood because of release of wax traditionally used with ceramic abrasives.
Before Granat was released in North America Festool and many other organizations performed numerous tests sanding raw wood with Granat and applying all sorts of stains. None of those tests of production Granat in the coarser grits appropriate for raw wood demonstrated any problems with later finishing. Early in 2011, during a class in Henderson, NV taught by both Steve Bace and Brian Sedgeley, we used Granat on solid surface and between classes discussed the use of Granat on raw wood. Unfortunately at that time the Nevada Training Center did not have any Granat coarser than 240 grit.
I reached out to a good buddy in the UK who sent me a few discs each of 90mm Granat in the coarser grits. Immediately I used those on the same types of plywood and hardwood I use in my cabinet business. I asked several of the finishing contractors who routinely finish my cabinets for their clients to make sure the Granat was causing no problem. Every one of those finish contractors were delighted with the results. In fact, most preferred the way 120 grit Granat kept the grain of some hardwood receptive to stain even better than did Rubin, which all of us trusted. Of course after they apply stain, as part of their finishing process they do additional sanding, but all that is outside of my business.
So I placed an order for Granat in 150mm, 125mm and 90mm 100 and 120 grit. We used that for months in 2011. Yes, the price of Granat is higher than Rubin. However, the increased life of Granat cancels the higher cost. In addition, when cabinet making is your business, the labor and downtime cost of changing papers has to be considered. Month after month all six of the cabinet makers working for me became convinced that for us Granat would be a competitive advantage. For us the results were even better than Rubin, and everyone had loved the Rubin results. It was far less frustrating to have paper last significantly longer.
When all sizes and shapes of Granat up to 200 grit became available I stopped ordering Rubin and Brilliant II. Then came the Festool Round Sander and Abrasives Sale of 2011. I ordered so much Granat that I am sure the savings alone paid for my class last December and I still have money left from those savings for another class in Henderson. Steve, Brian and Shane know the subject I want to learn.
So my suggestion is that if you do not cost-out your time to 1/100s of a minute, and if you love Rubin, then by all means use it. It lasts forever stored decently. I am still using some Rubin I purchased in 2006. On the other hand, if you want to try Granat, I am sure you will find the longer life will mean in the long run Granat did not cost you extra.