Suggestions On Refinish Stairs And Rails (RO 90 Sander And Sand Papers)

[JZ Bowmannz]

Hello All Foggers,

What's right way for you guys to refinish the stairs and rails?

I am in the process of redo a stairs in our house, and later on to redo the kitchen cabinets. The stair is natural finished maple (steps and rails) with white painted spindles, and wife wants to have java stained steps and rails with white spindles.

I am thinking of buying the RO 90 to strip the old finish. Really didn't want to deal with the chemical mess of the paint strip. Would you guys have any suggestion with your refinishing stairs experience that you could share with me? I do have CT 22 and CT 33 both, and a Makita 1/3 sheet sander for flat surface. I don't mind if I have to buy another Festool sander on top of RO90 - wife gave me an OK already  [big grin]

Also, I am not quite familiar with the Festool sand paper. I only know them by the names: Rubin, Brilliant and Granat. What's the differences? Is Granat better to strip the old finish?

This topic could be discussed already, if so, please direct me into the right area.

Thank you all in advance.

JZ

 

[Pixel]

For all the flat surfaces try out the Metabo LF 724 paint stripper, magnificent. For the spindles, sub-contract to someone else, worse job in the world.

 

[JZ Bowmannz]

Thanks. That's a great tool.

We don't have multi layers of paint build up, just two or three coats of vanish, so it's bit of overkill I think. And I will still have to sand the surface after the striping, right?

 

[Pixel]

Yes you still have to sand after but a light sanding with a 120 rubin paper if sufficient, also need to sand off the small radius of paint left in the internal corners. Problem i find with sanding off multi layers is that you can go through a lot of paper, especially if it is an old oil based coating.

 

[JZ Bowmannz]

Thanks Pixel.

Meanwhile, I really want to have a reason to buy RO90 [wink]

Does RO90 have an accessory kit? Paul Marcel showed that kit with his RO90 review, but I could not find it anywhere.

 

[SMJoinery]

We recently completed a total refurb of stairs, hall woodwork, floor and all skirtings and architraves etc.
We had a horrible brown stain / paint to remove which had totally hidden the beauty of the wood used in the house.
It took us 3 weeks (Yes3!) to sand back, prep and apply 3 coats of a satin translucent varnish. (Heritage oak). This leaves the grain visible but gives a lovely warm background colour.
The prep was all done with RO90 and RO150. We also used 250 of those hand sand foam pads which were invaluable.
We used hundreds of sheets of Granat 40,60,120 and 180. Also a couple of green vilies.

I didn't take before photos but the first one shows the top of stairs when we were installing some roof windows.
Second pic is after sanding week 2.
Last pic is completed job.
Client is delighted. The brown paint gone and the new translucent stain coupled with the roof windows has made a massive difference.
Good luck with paint removal. Buy an RO90, loads of granat paper and some headphones for easy listening whilst you work.
By the way this job was done during the Ryder Cup and the house is 2 miles from Gleneagles. We could hear the roars through the roof windows.

 

[andyman]

How did you suspend yourself from the ceiling? [tongue]

 

[SMJoinery]

How did you suspend yourself from the ceiling? [tongue]

I use my "CT Wings" of course!! [tongue]

 

[Pixel]

You need the RO90 to finish the job so there is your excuse, although you should not need an excuse to buy it because it is an essential part of everyone's tool kit. I was just making a suggestion to ease the pain and time taken by sanding. Can't help you on the accessory set for the RO90 but the sander comes with the Delta head,  I bought the extension Delta head which is the only accessory I needed

 

[andyman]

How did you suspend yourself from the ceiling? [tongue]

I use my "CT Wings" of course!! [tongue]

 

[JZ Bowmannz]

Sounds like a good combination: Metabo 724 for paint removal and RO90 for finishing sanding...

I will be adding the CT Wings for some odd situation as well [big grin].

SMJoinery,

Thanks for the heads-up. I'll make sure my BOSE headphone is in good working order, and would be working during the Michigan winter.

 

[any]

I would try with the ro90 first to see if it can do the stripping job. The metabo is more of a specialist tool imho, and might be an unecessary purchase if you only have to do one set of stairs. Unless the steps are covered in gummy old oil paint the ro should be up to the task, although a bit slower. I have had the metabo for a year now, but I usually reach for the sander instead.

 

[Brent Taylor]

JZ are you a Troll or a Up'er? I've been both. To your question, you may want to start with Brilliant 2 for the lower grits than switch to Rubin 2 or Granat in the Festool lines, I really like Mirka's Abranet and Abrant HD, but that would be a little work cutting down 5" disk to fit the 90 or getting a RO 125, but I have had great luck with the Mirka line. Stay warm. B

 

[JZ Bowmannz]

Brent,

I consider myself a troll, and I don't have every tool from Festool, but love everything I own.
I love tools that can get my project done, in most cases, it's one of the Festool I own, but not always.

Thanks for the sand paper advice, I use Mirka on my Bosch ROS and Makita 1/3 sheet sander too, like them a lot.

It's in the 50's in Michigan now... Snow is coming soon. [sad]

JZ