Porch, balcony, and backyard posts, oh my...

[reesjo]

Hey guys,

Need advice from the group. Have quite a bit of sanding ahead of me and before I spend money on abrasives and possibly a new sander, here's the situation.

Wanting to strip, though not completely (see attached) painted wood (not sure species) posts which have not been touched since the house was built in 2008. The look I’m going for is weathered/whitewashed.

I have 2 Festool sanders (RAS 115E and ETS 150/3 EQ) and basically no abrasives other than a bunch of Brilliant P220. Aside from abrasive recommendations, wondered if a smaller specialty sander would be in the cards. I am not removing railings so there is a bit a tight spots and some linear edges where the posts meet the stucco exterior.

In the pic of the sanded post, I used the following tools/abrasives due to availability:

RAS w/ Rubin 2 (P40)
RAS w/ Rubin 2 (P80)
ETS w/ Granat (P80)
ETS w/ Brilliant 2 (P220)

Thanks in advance for any suggestions and all the best to those celebrating Thanksgiving with family this year!!

Warm regards,
John-Jason

 

[leakyroof]

Rubin is for bare/raw wood sanding, it will easily clog in most sanding jobs that have a previous finish on them. Granat is your best friend for coated/painted/finished surfaces in most cases.

If you're not fully stripping the old finish, you won't need that aggressive of a grit then.
Since I'm not there in person try it, my guess from looking at the pictures is 80 grit or maybe 120.  You can always switch to 40 or 60 grit if those work better for you.  80 Grit Granat will sander differently than 80 grit Rubin in my experience, but work with what is best for your job in terms of Grit.  I'd only use Rubin once the wood was bare, Granat will sand it either way, so it's more of an All Around Abrasive because of its versatility.
The larger flat surfaces will be handled by your two existing sanders,but those smaller, tighter spaces are going to be a Delta Type sander, or at least something small like it.  Ro 90 with a Delta head installed is one way to ,,,,,slowly,,, go at it..... [embarassed]  I'm tired just thinking about all those smaller areas.... [smile]

The Delta paper can be rotated as it wears to maximize your use of it, but it's still a much smaller size than your other two sanders.
Scrapers might work well here too if the finish is ready to come off after being on since 2008.
Is it a stain or paint that's on there now. You said painted, but it almost had the look of a solid stain... [unsure]

 

[AlexThePalex]

Your ETS 150 with granat 80 is the perfect tool to do most of the work here. The RAS is too aggressive, I would not use it for this.

No need to strip to bare wood, I would first make a pass with 80 to remove all loose paint and sand as flat as possible, then 180 to sand it all as smooth as a mirror. Since you have a good supply of 220 that will work also just fine.

I will have to once again recommend the DTS 400, perfect sander or most things in and around the house. You Americans seem to be convinced the RO90 is a sexier sander though, but the DTS is much more practical and allround. Take that from someone who's been sanding and painting EVERY single day without exception for the last year.  [embarassed] [tongue]

[attachimg=1]

Don't know how you call these precisely, but these are one of the few things where I would switch over to the Deltex or the RO90. Perhaps you could squeeze the DTS in, but often they're too close together for the DTS to fit, so now a small 93 mm delta head, possibly with extended pad works best. These things are why I keep my Deltex DX93 around.
 

 

[greg mann]

We call them balusters.