Brice Burrell
Member
- Joined
- Mar 13, 2007
- Messages
- 7,386
It's time to starting talking Festool again guys, here we go. Festool's Rubin sandpaper, if you have ever used it, like me, you might have a love/hate relationship with this sandpaper.
This paper is made for bare wood, it's on a mid-weight paper and stands up against tearing fairly well. The grit particles on Rubin are both base and top bonded (adhered to the paper). The top bonding is closed-leveled, this means only the tops of the grit particles, in this case aluminum oxide, are exposed and the valleys are filled with the bonding resin. This bonds the particles to the paper really well, helping extend the paper's service life. It also has a top coat specifically to, as Festool says, shed wood fibers. What that coating is, I have no idea and I'll take their word that it works.
So, how does all of the information above play out in real world use? Well, this is my take, I love this stuff, when I slap on a new sheet of Rubin paper it cuts like a dream. That new sheet cutting action doesn't last all that long, this is where the hate part of the relationship comes in.
Rubin paper is like the radioactive material Tritium, it has non-exponential decay. Tritium reaches its "half-life" relatively quickly and then the decay slows considerably, Rubin is much the same way. The sharpness of its particles dull to about half of their life very fast compared to how long the pager last before it stops cutting all together.
When you first start to notice this slow down in cutting take a look at the paper, it still looks new. It sure is hard to throw away a new looking piece of sandpaper, so don't do it, I'll tell you why in a minute. First here's my theory on why I think the cutting seems to slow down so fast, I think it's the closed-leveled top bonding. I suspect the tops of the particles are wearing down and the "filled valleys" are left to do the cutting. Sanding with these filled valleys is like using a higher grit (more grit particles). You'll spend a lot more time trying to sand with paper that is dull or you'll sped more money using more sheets changing them out for new ones all of the time. What's a guy to do?
I charge my clients for the sandpaper I use, so this issue isn't much of a problem for me. However, if you are paying for your paper consider this approach. Keep the old sheets and use an 80 piece when you really want a 100 or 120 grit. This is be no means a perfect solution, it is the best thing that I've come up with for extending the usefullness of Rubin paper.
Keep this mind when thinking about buying Rubin, get a grit or two lower (fewer grit particles) than you think you'll want. These are some of my thought on Rubin paper, I would love to hear what you think.
This paper is made for bare wood, it's on a mid-weight paper and stands up against tearing fairly well. The grit particles on Rubin are both base and top bonded (adhered to the paper). The top bonding is closed-leveled, this means only the tops of the grit particles, in this case aluminum oxide, are exposed and the valleys are filled with the bonding resin. This bonds the particles to the paper really well, helping extend the paper's service life. It also has a top coat specifically to, as Festool says, shed wood fibers. What that coating is, I have no idea and I'll take their word that it works.
So, how does all of the information above play out in real world use? Well, this is my take, I love this stuff, when I slap on a new sheet of Rubin paper it cuts like a dream. That new sheet cutting action doesn't last all that long, this is where the hate part of the relationship comes in.
Rubin paper is like the radioactive material Tritium, it has non-exponential decay. Tritium reaches its "half-life" relatively quickly and then the decay slows considerably, Rubin is much the same way. The sharpness of its particles dull to about half of their life very fast compared to how long the pager last before it stops cutting all together.
When you first start to notice this slow down in cutting take a look at the paper, it still looks new. It sure is hard to throw away a new looking piece of sandpaper, so don't do it, I'll tell you why in a minute. First here's my theory on why I think the cutting seems to slow down so fast, I think it's the closed-leveled top bonding. I suspect the tops of the particles are wearing down and the "filled valleys" are left to do the cutting. Sanding with these filled valleys is like using a higher grit (more grit particles). You'll spend a lot more time trying to sand with paper that is dull or you'll sped more money using more sheets changing them out for new ones all of the time. What's a guy to do?
I charge my clients for the sandpaper I use, so this issue isn't much of a problem for me. However, if you are paying for your paper consider this approach. Keep the old sheets and use an 80 piece when you really want a 100 or 120 grit. This is be no means a perfect solution, it is the best thing that I've come up with for extending the usefullness of Rubin paper.
Keep this mind when thinking about buying Rubin, get a grit or two lower (fewer grit particles) than you think you'll want. These are some of my thought on Rubin paper, I would love to hear what you think.
