Paper recommendation ETS 150 / stained garden furniture

[festivus]

Only have the ETS 150/3 which I mainly use for bare wood from the planer/thicknesser. I have Rubin 120 and Brilliant 240. I have some old garden furniture that looks to have a dark stain that I'd like to sand down to bare wood.

I know not the ideal tool, but what paper would you recommend? I could use an old Bosch belt sander but imagine the ETS will be more than sufficient with the right paper.

Thanks!

 

[peter halle]

I guess that I am not the only one who will use a Festool sander in less than optimal situations.  [big grin] Here is a link to the Festool USA abrasive selector where you can search for abrasives for specific sanders and situations:  http://www.festoolusa.com/abrasives

Peter

 

[festivus]

Thanks Peter - that link is more useful than the UK catalogue!

But still appreciate specific recommendations if anyone has any?

Thanks.

 

[RADuffy]

I just sanded off some rather dark stain from a table top and from a door. I used Rubin 2 60 and 80 grit. The 60 took it down fairly quickly. I then moved up to 120 and 180 before I restrained it a lighter color.

 

[leakyroof]

Granat will work quickly and resist clogging very well from the older stain finish.
I've reworked a number of tossed out Garden pieces in the past few years. Any finish left before I start is easily removed by Granat, which also sands the then bare wood nicely too.
I rarely have to go lower than 80-120 grit to start with.

 

[Kev]

I started with P40 Granat on a stained table top recently, then progressed through the grits. I could probably have started with P60, but there were some gouges in the top, so I was intending to take a bit more material off (started with a RO150 and switched to ETS150/5 ... didn't use the /3 as I wasn't chasing a fine finish, only went to P180).

So my thoughts would be to start with P60. The ETS150/3 will obviously be slower than a RO150, but it'll get there.

Generally with Festool abrasives and Granat in particular, I've got into the habit of trying a less aggressive grit to start with, so testing P80 first may be smart [wink]

 

[dpetrzelka]

I just used P80 Granat on my 150/3 to clean up some beams after stripping the paint with a heat gun and putty knife. I immediately switch to the RO90 when I got that last week, as the Rotex mode is making much quicker work of the initial rough work, and is easier to handle in this particular case.

Granat worked great for removing left over paint, as well as the dark stain that was underneath. If the old finish has any body to it, start with a lower speed - speed 4 or 5 to avoid melting the finish and clogging the paper.

I too have found that you can start with one finer grit than I may have used with other papers/sanders without dust collection. Good dust collection and the quality abrasives make quick work.  In this case I've used a fairly quick progression:

P80 Granat
P120 Granat
P180 Brilliant 2
P220 Brilliant 2

( it was no conscious decision to finish with Brilliant 2 - its just what I have in the box.) Your Rubin 120 will fit nicely in the progression - just pick up some P80 and P150/180 Granat to fill in the gaps.

 

[wow]

I agree with starting at P80 grit. You can always go down in grit if it isn't stripping the old finish fast enough, but it will be easier to smooth out the swirls if you don't need to use a coarser grit.

It should be obvious fairly quickly what to use once you start...

 

[festivus]

Thanks all - that's a great help.

Think I'll start with some 80 grit Granat and see how I get on.

I can't believe no one told me I NEED a Rotex sander ! I was so so tempted by the 90mm version at a show recently ...

 

[dpetrzelka]

I think a few of us were politely suggesting that a smaller sander might be better suited - but tried to focus on the abrasives recommendation 

For sanding furniture you would likely be better served by a smaller sander, with delta capabilities to get into inside corners. The RO90 works incredibly well for this type of work - I picked up an RO90 for just those reasons.

One thing we haven't talked about is pad choice.  A soft pad on a large sander can create convex contours quickly when you're working with P80. With the ETS150 specifically, but also with smaller sanders, a hard pad could help you avoid rounding over edges on the thinner boards likely to be found in furniture.

 

[Kev]

Thanks all - that's a great help.

Think I'll start with some 80 grit Granat and see how I get on.

I can't believe no one told me I NEED a Rotex sander ! I was so so tempted by the 90mm version at a show recently ...

Well you obviously need one if you haven't got one [doh] but don't worry, green mother nature will eventually run her course [wink]

 

[festivus]

Thanks - was looking at a hard pad for my ETS150 - it's on the "wish list".

[quote author=Kev]
Well you obviously need one if you haven't got one [doh] but don't worry, green mother nature will eventually run her course [wink]
[/quote]

You're not wrong - it's only a mater of time !