Sandpaper Question

[AdrianL]

I am getting ready to purchase some more Festool sandpaper for my ETS125 sander and I am re-thinking which sandpaper to get.

The specific job for the sandpaper will be to sand down my kitchen cabinet tops. The tops are maple with mineral oil on top. About 2 or 3 times a year I have to wash down the tops, sand out any problem areas and re- coat with mineral oil.

In the past I've been using Brilliant 220 grit paper. It has worked fine but as you might expect it gets clogged up fairly quickly. I am wondering if the Rubin would be better for this job.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

AdrianL

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

Adrian,

Welcome to the forum.

Rubin is really for bare wood. Your best choice would probably be Granat, which has anti-clogging properties. Brilliant would be a good second choice.

To help prevent clogging, keep the sander moving and don't apply much pressure. Let the abrasive do the work. If it's not stripping at a high enough rate, use a lower grit.

Here's an abrasive search tool on our website that can help you decide.

http://www.festoolusa.com/abrasives/ets%20125/high%20gloss

Shane

 

[neeleman]

Festool Granat does it all.
It's a multi purpose sandpaper, although specially designed for VOS paint or sanding down putty.
I use it dailly on bare wood, paint, plaster, plastics, acrylic and putty.

Although Mirka Abranet also is multi-purpose but also more expensive.
But you have to use a intermediate pad between the velcro of the sanding pad and the sandpaper.
On the other hand is has the best dust collection of all sandpaper available.

 

[semenza]

Hi Adrian,

  Welcome to the forum!  [smile]

    I am interested in how  sanding the mineral oil works out.  Do you think it gets sanded well enough ( or could be) to apply a different finish over the top?  Polyurethane? Maybe with a barrier coat?

Seth

 

[tbellemare]

I've sanded a Boos hard maple counter top that was coated with Boos orange scented mineral oil. The scenario was: before a renter, it got a few coats of oil. The renter, who was there for about 1-1/2 years was supposed to maintain it with a new bottle of the oil that I provided. When the renter left, the bottle of oil was still full and there was filth and stains on the maple.

Using a Rotex 150 and Rotex 90 with Granat P80, then 120, they cleaned up real fast with no clogging. One red stain was a little too deep but after re-oiling, it was hardly noticeable. I think I only used 2 sheets of 80 for the RO 150 and one of 120. All together, it was about 11 linear feet of counter top.

Tom

 

[AdrianL]

Thanks for the welcome words everyone.

Seth - I think it is more the washing with soap and water that gets most of the oil out. I would think that as long as you used an oil based covering you would not have any problems. Covering with an epoxy might be a different story though. Although I've done a good bit of epoxy work, I've never tried putting it on top of a surface that had oil in it. When I wash and sand my tops, they are pretty dry of oil although you can tell that there is still a little there. Perhaps letting the wood stay exposed without any covering for a few weeks would get it dry enough.

Tom - we love our counter tops and find them very easy to take care of. Having said that I don't think I would do it for a renter. They do take a little care and attention.

Thanks

AdrianL

 

[wow]

First,  [welcome] to the FOG.

I second ( or third, or...) the choice of Granat. Tom Bellamare will make up whatever assortment you want or need.

 

[dpetrzelka]

Granat works wonders  - stripping paint from ceiling beams this past week with great results -  stearate coating really does help limit loading (Rubin was loading up a little)

I agree that if you're looking for a grit progression to take you through the project Tom at Tool-Home has taken care of more than a few of us. Easy to have him pull just the grits and numbers you need.

 

[mouppe]

I'm not sure why you need to sand? On my wooden kitchen boards and tops, I just coat them with more oil when they dry out. I use Terra Nova Naturoil. Flood on, wipe off excess after 15 minutes. leave to dry for a couple of hours.

If there was a small area that needed sanding, I would go with granat or rubin.

 

[VW mick]

welcome

+10 granat is the way forward

 

[AdrianL]

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. I picked up a box of Ganat 220 yesterday afternoon and it looks like it is going to work great.

Thanks also for the point to Tool Home. I'm going to look him up on the net. I was just in a hurry to get the Ganat and did not want to wait for mail order.

RL - I sand just to get any marks and light stains out of the maple. It does not take much sanding but it kind of brightens up the wood and makes it look better. I do a similar thing to what you do. I flood the surface with the oil, let it stand for for several hours then add a second coat. I normally let the second coat sit overnight. In the morning I wipe off any excess left and prepare the next section. It's a 3 day process mostly because I do not remove everything from the kitchen. I move things around. I have about 45 linear feet of cabinet tops.

Thanks agin to everyone for the guidance and help.

AdrianL