Best sandpaper for stripping paint??

[dbworkshop]

My neighbor is redoing his front door, and today I almost caught him getting ready to attack it with some hand sandpaper.  He said he had been keeping it wet and scraping it off, then collecting the residue and bagging it.  I sopped him from sanding it by hand by offering the use of my RO90 and CT, but as this is not my usual scope of work, I don't have the paper he needs. So, what paper would be the best??  Having looked in the catalog, I'm thinking that brilliant is the best option (from a box size/price perspective). How well does granat work in that application, as I have still have the sample pack that came with he sander?? Professional opinions??

Some further info:  he has it scraped in most spots to near bare wood. He is just hoping to get it further cleaned up.

Will it be in my best interest to switch hepa filters on the vac when I get it back??  Not a big deal that it will be contaminated by lead dust as I have a home remodel/demo that I will need to clean up.

Thanks
Dan

 

[AlexThePalex]

If you're really stripping the paint to bare wood, Cristal is the best option. But Brilliant and Granat in the lower grits 40-60-80 also work fine. After stripping clean up with Brilliant/Granat 120 to remove the scratches and get a nice surface.

Brilliant and Granat are Festool's all purpose papers and work great with paint. They're more or less interchangeable and have just minor differences. Cristal is a bit rougher paper with a more aggresive cut for stripping down to bare wood. If you really have to remove many layers you can even go to Saphir, it's Festool's toughest paper for the really hard jobs.

 

[semenza]

I like the Cristal (yes, better than Granat)  for stripping paint and just about anything else. The sparse grit helps prevent clogging.  Depending on how much paint is really left to remove  try between 40 , 60 , or 80 grit. More paint = lower grit.  Slowing down the sander speed and keeping it moving will also help prevent the paint melting onto the abrasive.

Seth