Festool Abrasives Details

[Matthew Schenker]

Everyone,
Festool abrasives are one of the company's greatest offerings.  However, a lot of people have been somewhat confused about the different types of Festool abrasives and what each one is best used for.

Festool created a 16-page informational booklet with details on each type of abrasive.  But I felt this information could get better access and more usage if it were in electronic form.  So I decided to use the power of the forum's gallery to create a series of images from the abrasives booklet.  These images are located in the Product Gallery.

In addition to scanning each abrasives page, I also entered details in the description field.  That means members can use the Gallery's "search" function to locate the specific information on particular abrasives.  For example, if you are wondering about "Saphir" just enter that term in the Gallery's search box and you'll see the detailed page on those abrasives.

For ease of access to the information, I've also included the abrasives pages here:

Thanks,
Matthew

 

[Eli]

I'd seen it, but this was timely for a job I'm doing next week. Thanks for posting it, it was a good reference without me having to dig it out from a pile.

 

[bruegf]

Matthew,

There's a PDF of the brochure available for download on the festool site.
http://www.festoolusa.com/ProductDetails.aspx?id=7&prodid=571594#  and click the downloads tab

Fred

 

[Matthew Schenker]

There's a PDF of the brochure available for download on the festool site.

Yes, but getting it into the Gallery, with page descriptions, adds key-word search capabilities for the abrasives.  Having more information locatable through key-word searching is one of the grand designs of this forum!

Thanks,
Matthew

 

[Bob10]

Not sure people know about this but Industrial Abrassives has started producing discs  that are compatible with Festool ROS.  The discs aren't listed on the website yet but are priced the same as the 8 hole discs listed.  Just thought I would mention it here.  I have some ordered and expect to pleased.  I have used their 8 hole paper in the past and was pleased with performance and price.

 

[Dave Ronyak]

Klingspor offers 125 mm (5 inch) and 150 mm (6 inch) H&L disks with the correct 9-hole patterns for Festool's round disk sanders with grit sizes from 60 to 1500 in packs of 10 and 50 disks.
See their website www.woodworkingshop.com. 
Tel: 1-800-228-0000
They are also a Festool dealer.

I would have posted the hyperlinks to these products, but I don't know how to do so.
I am not connected in any way to Klingspor except as a long time retail customer.

In the past they have also been very helpful to me; they even custom made H&L disks of coarse HD abrasive to fit my old Bosch R) sander for a nominal premium and delvered them within 2 weeks.  I do not know if they still offer such service, but if they do, a wide range of additional abrasives materials could become available to owners of Festool sanders.

I have been very satisfied with FestoolUSA's abrasive products offerings and have not needed to look elsewhere.

Dave R.

 

[MarkF]

Dave,
Some of us are lucky to be in the backyard of Klingspor's US operation in North Carolina and are frequent dumpster divers.  They have a bin of roll ends and other reject abrasives in the back of their stores that go for $1 ("F" weight red) or $2 per lb. for the green and gold cloth abrasives.  I can cut plenty of sandpaper for that price for my 1/2 sheet and 1/4 sheet sanders.  All of their stores have a bin with the Hickory, NC store (~2 miles off I-40) having the best variety and volume.  Definitely worth a stop if you're traveling near any of their stores.  If you have a drum sander they have 3" rolls cheap also.

 

[Dave Ronyak]

Thanks, Mark.  I have what is probably more than a lifetime supply of my own of some grits.  One of my uncle's worked at a small company that made large abrasive belts sold to the steel mills that used to operate around Pittsburgh.  They would scrap any belt that wasn't perfect.  Some of the remnants I have kept are ~3ft wide.  I tear off strips to whatever lengths and widths I need.

Dave R.

 

[jimbo51]

I looked at the Festool USA website. I looked at Festool Germany site (English version). I searched some of the FOG threads. No luck. There are wide pads and long pads for the LS130 (Duplex). However, I have seen nothing that indicates what size paper is used on them. It also seems that paper that would fit the wide pad would cover the 90 degree pad totally. The 80 x 130 does not cover the entire surface of the 90 degree pad.

Assistance appreciated.

 

[tbellemare]

I'm not sure what pad you want to cover, but the typical Festool 80 mm x 133 mm paper fits most of the pads for the LS 130. They also, coincidentally, fit the RTS 400, random orbital sander.

Tom

 

[jimbo51]

The wide pad for the 130 is 158 x 130.  Do you use 2 of the 133 x 80 sheets side by side?  The long pad is 80 x 195. Do you use 1.5 sheets end to end? ???

 

[AlexThePalex]

Yes. There is no special size paper available for those special pads. And when I check the Dutch Festool side under LS130:Consumables they exclusively list 130x88 size paper.

 

[Brice Burrell]

I'm not sure what pad you want to cover, but the typical Festool 80 mm x 133 mm paper fits most of the pads for the LS 130. They also, coincidentally, fit the RTS 400, random orbital sander.

Tom

Small correction, Tom must of had a slip of the key board, the RTS is an orbital sander, not a random orbit sander.

 

[tbellemare]

Thanks, Brice! It is an orbital.

Tom

 

[Mac]

Matt,

Wanted to say a quick thanks for posting this. I found it really useful having just started exploring the mysteries of festool's abrasive selection.

Mac

 

[Debra Crane]

Thanks, Matthew, for posting an easily found copy of the Festool abrasives brochure.

As I work for at the Woodcraft store near Nashville, TN, I'm often referencing this abandoned document. It was great having it available back-in-the-day as a POS handout and a primer included in every sander systainer. I considered it Festool University's Abrasives 101 text book. Not only does it explain the differences in abrasives, the core of Sanding Science, but it also guides the user through the specific abrasive sequence based on project material. "Polishing solid surface for the first time? See page 3 for an overview." It makes finishing as simple as following a recipe! Faster. Easier. Smarter.

Once I realized the brochure was no longer included in sander systainers, I contacted FestoolUSA to replenish my in-store stash. Unfortunately, they were no longer available in print. They said something about reviewing and improving the document. OK, I could appreciate an ongoing commitment to quality, but why not make the current brochure (which I thought was excellent) available on the FestoolUSA website? Perhaps in the FAQ and/or Support knowledgebases. Or even as a supporting document link directly accessible from the product page. Wouldn't that be faster, easier, smarter? In the mean time, I copied one of my own brochures and placed in our store's Festool Bible for in-store reference by employees or customers.

Actually, I found out from the FestoolUSA rep that the abrasive brochure IS available on their website ... just hidden away in the underbelly archives, accessible only if you know the specific url:

http://www.festoolusa.com/supplyimages/abrasives_brochure.pdf

And as for their reviewing and improving the document, if they asked, I'd offer FestoolUSA a suggestion in improving the principle guidelines for selecting Festool abrasives: "Reorder the Festool world view by grafting a Darwinian tree to Abasivology." To be specific, I think of the abrasives as being graded from more aggressive to less aggressive, from coarse to fine. I think of them in this particular order:

Saphir - for heavy duty for extreme conditions
Crystal - for rapid removal
Rubin - for bare wood
Brilliant2 - for paints and finishes (also for bare wood)
Titan2 - for solid surface, plastics, composites (also for paints and finishes)
*Vlies - for matte finishes
Platin2 - for gloss finishes
Felt & lambs wool - for polishing

*Vlies is also used for cleaning and scouring and could therefore enter the line-up elsewhere.

I know the abrasive line-up is not linear in reality; there are plenty of overlaps and sidesteps. And Vlies is an odd duck that can slip in between several places. But by reducing it to a linear tree which I can use as a guiding principal, I can remember the progression through the grits. It also gives me an order to place the product on store shelves!

I'd also suggest that the FestoolUSA folks expand the brochure to include polishing ? which would mean bringing over the Festool polishes, wouldn't it? As a bonafide, Kool-Aid-drinking Festoolian, I want it all, baby!

I hope this bit of drabble doesn't confuse anyone ... just inspire one other Festoolian to read the abrasives brochure and rethink his/her approach to finishing.

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

OK, I could appreciate an ongoing commitment to quality, but why not make the current brochure (which I thought was excellent) available on the FestoolUSA website? Perhaps in the FAQ and/or Support knowledgebases. Or even as a supporting document link directly accessible from the product page. Wouldn't that be faster, easier, smarter? In the mean time, I copied one of my own brochures and placed in our store's Festool Bible for in-store reference by employees or customers.

Actually, I found out from the FestoolUSA rep that the abrasive brochure IS available on their website ... just hidden away in the underbelly archives, accessible only if you know the specific url:

http://www.festoolusa.com/supplyimages/abrasives_brochure.pdf

Actually, the abrasives brochure is linked from every abrasives and sander product page.  It is listed as the "Festool Abrasives Decision Guide".

Edit: And, this is the current URL although the old one Debra referenced will work: http://www.festoolusa.com/media/pdf/abrasives_brochure.pdf

 

[Debra Crane]

Thanks, Shane. Glad to know it's there. I'll pass that info on to my customers.

BTW, will some version of the brochure be added back into the sander systainers?

 

[Matthew Schenker]

Thanks, Matthew, for posting an easily found copy of the Festool abrasives brochure.

As I work for at the Woodcraft store near Nashville, TN, I'm often referencing this abandoned document. It was great having it available back-in-the-day as a POS handout and a primer included in every sander systainer.

Debra,
Thanks for the comments.  The reason I scanned and posted the abrasives brochure here was to give everyone a quicker way to access the information.  I figured it might be easier to go to this page and show customers the abrasives pages.

Glad it helps.

Stay in touch,
Matthew

 

[imaginarynumber]

Does anyone know why the titan range is largely limited to the rotary range.

When sanding latex mdf primer I often have to resort to using the 150mm disks on, for eg, my dts400, punching dust holes as necessary.

Although the paper eventually clogs it lasts much longer than the corresponding brilliant paper.