Which pad and grit for table renovation?

MadViking

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I've never done any real furniture renovation and use my Festools mostly for new construction and occasional paint removal. I will be renovating my fathers old dining room table made of massive pine. The table top is about 3 m2 (30 sq ft) and quite worn with dents approximately 2-3mm deep. The obvious solution is to take the table top to a wood shop and use a big planer, but for various reasons this isn't an option. I'm hoping to get the job done with my Rotex 150 and an ETS 150/3. I only have the standard pad (black) for both of them. I'm planning on using only Rubin 2 in four different grits, starting with the Rotex in RO mode with P40, then in standard mode P80, switch to the ETS for P120 and finally P220.

1) Does my grit progression make sense? Should I perhaps start with Saphir in an even lower grit like P24?
2) Should I get the hard pad (blue) for one or maybe both of the sanders?
 
How do you want it to look when you have finished? Some would argue that the lifetime of dents is part of the charm of the piece, if so, I would lightly hand sand the top with 180 or 220 grit, and then add an oil finish.

If you want to make the table look like a brand new piece of furniture, you need to sand through a lot of wood to remove 3mm- even in pine this will take a while. Despite what you wrote, I would consider cutting the top up with a tracksaw, running the planks through a planer, and regluing them. Then you will require minimal sanding.

If sanding is really your only option, I would go with Granat 80 and a hard pad for the Rotex and work up from there.
 
Sanding away 3 mm is a very tough job. Gonna be real hard to keep things flat. Better do what Richard (RL) said.
 
[size=11pt]

Just remember there is a big difference between renovation and complete restoration to 'new'.

Personally I would take it easy and do the minimum of work to make it serviceable and enjoy the 'history' of those dents.

Hence I agree with RL.  [smile]

You may want to post pictures to assist further comments from others.
 
Any chance you can steam out the dents? If you have a piece of wood, or a section of the object you are trying to restore, you can try to steam out the dents once the finish itself is removed. I've had good luck with putting a wet rag over the area where the dent is, then placing a hot iron on the towel. The steaming action will raise the fibers. I have often been able to raise some pretty deep dents. As long as the dent isn't cut, it should raise. Using a cotton tipped applicator(Q-tip) apply some denatured or rubbing alcohol on the dent then lighting it will raise the fiber as well. Stating the obvious, you have to be careful not to saturate the wood(just a droplet), and have a wet rag handy to extinguish the flame(never had the wood actually catch on fire). You may have to do either technique more than once to raise dent. For a 3mm dent, I'd try a wet cloth and an iron.

Just thought this may cut down on the amount of sanding.

BTW I've raised the grain for water based finishes. It leaves a real smooth finish.

 
  If you are really sanding away 3mm of pine I think you will want to start with  a very coarse grit (40gr) the hard pad and Rotex mode. That is a lot to remove. Go with Granat, or Cristal if you can still find some.

  Aside from running it through a large planer ..........................  a belt sander with frame would speed things up.

  I have done a very similar job by using the HL850 to take down the majority then switch to sanding. The power plane leaves lots of ridges but they sand out pretty fast with the RO150. You do need to be steady with the 850 though.

Seth

 
Is there a finish on the table?  If if it's just oiled, that might tend to clog the Rubin paper, as it doesn't do well with removing finishes. Granat, as other have suggested, will work with an old finish and sand the bare wood once you get to it.
Totally agree with the -leaving-the-big-dents-in the top posts.
You can always sand for an hour or less, then wet the top with mineral spirits to see how the wood might look with an oiled finish at that point.
 
More of a question here than an answer. Would anyone suggest burn in sticks? I've yet to use one, but I've seen some guys use it, and I could not tell were they made the repair. Just thinking of alternate solutions for the original poster, and myself since dings and dents are always happening.
 
FOGNewbie said:
More of a question here than an answer. Would anyone suggest burn in sticks? I've yet to use one, but I've seen some guys use it, and I could not tell were they made the repair. Just thinking of alternate solutions for the original poster, and myself since dings and dents are always happening.
  You could, and I have used them, but I was always working with a film finish as my top coat once done.
With this Pine table, I'm guessing it's either ending up oiled or similar, and those years of dents and patina would look best left mostly alone. Just my 2 cents. [embarassed]
 
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