Powered vs. Hand Sanding

[rmac]

A question for the folks who use electric sanders. When preparing for a finish, does using a decent ROS give better results somehow than sanding by hand, or is it just less work? Or put another way, if you want a really, really fine finish, do you do your final sanding with a sander or by hand?

-- Russ

[Dave H]

IMHO a ROS is just faster, hand sanding would be a nicer finish beacause your sanding with the grain. And you don't normally dish out areas by hand a ros can be pretty aggressive, and you have to watch out on the edges not to roll them over. That being said I use my ROS as my primary means of sanding beacause I just want to get it done with, I hate sanding.

[Vic]

Russ,

The ROS is great because the random pattern stops showing scratch marks at about 180. That said, I still do a final hand sanding with the grain.

[Guest Screamer]

A ROS do what it say...sand in a random pattern. When hand sanding with the grain, you create scratch marks that are parallel to each other. And the human eye catch that more easily. A ROS create random scratch marks that the eye can't see. If you do had sanding and use a very fine grid, It is not so noticeable. But that mean you had to work progressive from coarse to fine sandpaper. A very time consuming process

[rmac]

The ROS is great because the random pattern stops showing scratch marks at about 180.

I believe I remember one of Marc's videos saying the same thing.

That said, I still do a final hand sanding with the grain.

Do you stick with 180, then, for the final sanding, or go on to 220 or finer? I've heard that if you go too fine, stains and dyes will start to act differently.

-- Russ

[TimV]

Russ, I use a ROS up through 220 when I can use it on a surface. Sometimes the surface doesn't lend itself to being able to get the sander on it adequately. Then after using the ROS, I hand sand in the direction of the grain with 220 also. It is not an aggressive hand sand operation, just one quick swipe or three with light pressure just to ensure the scratches are parallel with the grain.

Tim

[Vic]

I believe I remember one of Marc's videos saying the same thing.

Do you stick with 180, then, for the final sanding, or go on to 220 or finer? I've heard that if you go too fine, stains and dyes will start to act differently.

-- Russ

Russ, I step to 220 for the hand sanding after the 180 ROS and that's as fine as I'll ever go prior to the finish. I lightly sand in between finish coats with 320. Well..once I see that the wood is saturated with finish. Until then (usually after the second coat), I stick to 220. The finish I like which is a polymerized tung oil says to never sand higher than 220 or the wood pores will be too closed to absorb the finish.

[Hayashiox]

All rough sanding I do by ROS(60,80,100, 150, 180, 220)

All fine sanding I do by hand( 320, 400, 600, 1500, etc..)

[bois]

One of the great advantages to using a ROS is when you need to sand a piece that has grain that meets at a perpendicular angle. For example where rails and stiles meet on a cabinet door, or at the corners of face frames and drawer dividers. Hand sanding can be really tricky since it's very easy to sand too far and go cross-grain. With a ROS, you can get a very nice and easy transition. I also used to switch to hand sanding for finer grits, but as other folks have pointed out - once you go past about 220 with a ROS the scratch marks aren't perceivable any more. Now I don't hand sand until 1000 grit. And for you doubters that think you can get oil to absorb if you sand too high, you should watch my heated BLO treatment.

[AceHoleInOne]

I use Random Orbit Sander up through the grits. My final sand, always by hand with the grain.

Cross grain sanding issues by hand? Try using PSA sanding paper attached to a scrap of wood, making a sanding block or sanding stick. You can sand to a very precise line and not cross-over to an opposing grain.

-Ace-