Sandpaper

[Ulu]

Sandpaper Has become very important to me lately as I am building a new desk for my office. I am using factory joined slabs of Baltic Birch, and as they are made from multiple smaller pieces fingerjointed together, they vary in hardness from place to place.

 

This means that they are never sanded perfectly flat from the factory, and I have gone to extreme measures to make things so.

 

In my quest for the perfect hand rubbed finish I have discovered that it more than pays to use the finest available sandpaper; and I will no longer buy anything except 3M premium quality no slip papers, for hand sanding.

 

There’s a few photographs of the hutch for my desk. I just finished dowling in the shelves and drilling the matched holes in the hutch. Then I scuffed them and rubbed them out, and gave them the 2nd coat of  rubbed polyurethane varnish.
 

 

 

Here I have drilled the matching dowel holes, and I am mocking up the shelves without glue.

 

 

 

Edited August 16, 2020 by Ulu

[kencombs]

Yep, quality sandpaper is worth every penny, and don't try to stretch it's life using past optimum sharpness.  Wood and cars.  And on cars, also spend the money for quality masking materials, tape and paper.  Include in that 'fine line' tape for jambs, firewall etc.

[Dan Hiebert]

I heartily agree.  When we need sandpaper, and other painting supplies for that matter, I have to get it myself.  I get 3M whenever possible.  The missus always looks for the cheapest stuff on the shelf, even though she agrees with me on quality considerations, I think spending the least amount possible on anything is in her genes or something.  Sometimes that's good, sometimes it's not. 

[Los_Control]

When I was working, I used Mirka sandpaper. When first training as a finish carpenter, that's what my employer provided. And best I have used to date. Surprisingly harbor freight carried the mirka paper and one of the few items I would buy from there ... I am guessing 3M has different levels of quality. I am stuck buying it from Ace hardware, I thought it sucked and found some better paper at walmart, still garbage though.

 

Couple weeks ago I bought a pack of 3m from Ace, this actually feels like better quality then what I bought in the past, not used it a lot yet for opinion.

You can feel the flexibility and quality of the paper backing, more like what mirka is like.

Either way,  I need to order paper online, buying 5 pieces for $10 just not good, I need quantities of a box of 50 for different grits ... and because I know mirka thats what will stick with.

 

[kencombs]

1 hour ago, Los_Control said:

When I was working, I used Mirka sandpaper. When first training as a finish carpenter, that's what my employer provided. And best I have used to date. Surprisingly harbor freight carried the mirka paper and one of the few items I would buy from there ... I am guessing 3M has different levels of quality. I am stuck buying it from Ace hardware, I thought it sucked and found some better paper at walmart, still garbage though.

 

Couple weeks ago I bought a pack of 3m from Ace, this actually feels like better quality then what I bought in the past, not used it a lot yet for opinion.

You can feel the flexibility and quality of the paper backing, more like what mirka is like.

Either way,  I need to order paper online, buying 5 pieces for $10 just not good, I need quantities of a box of 50 for different grits ... and because I know mirka thats what will stick with.

 

 

Yep,  Mirka is good stuff.  I bought a bunch of 5" adhesive disks at an auction years ago.  I'm out of the coarser grits but still have a few full boxes of 180,  220 an 320.  I use it on my air palm sander a lot.  Your post reminded me, I need to order a lot of 80 in 5" and 8" sizes.  Hope to start stripping and bodywork on  the 56 in a fairly short time.  I like to strip with 80 on a buffer with backing pad.  Low speed doesn't clog paper like a grinder/sander.  Them do tighter areas with the 5", or 3m stripping disks.

 

My local body shop supply and paint store closed and nobody else locally handles large packages.  Lowes and such want to sell 5-10 sheets and about 5 times the bulk price per sheet.

[Los_Control]

I had a strange situation once. When I was a finish carpenter, the superintendent was a friend, asked me if I would do a side project for him ... I had a 1 ton flatbed with a tommy lift.

He had some stuff stored at a friends house and asked if I would haul it to the dump, keep what I want. He closed a shop years ago and forgot what was there ... just get rid of it.

 

I got there and looked at it, I was actually pissed. I could not believe what was there. There was a house used for a storage building, the living room was piled 3' high with tools.

We had a welder, air compressor, every air tool and several copies of each, several victor torch heads & hoses, a few were brand new and never unpackaged. There was no garbage and I would feel wrong keeping it. .... I decided I would choose one item for myself, I chose a old school large Kennedy tool box, was locked, but was something in it and was a mystery.

I met the owner over there and he laughed at forgetting what he had, We moved it all to his leased hangar where he parked his airplane.

 

The tool box was filled with mirka sandpaper, I worked for 5 years without buying sandpaper. I thought it was a score.

Just wish I was smarter back then, should have called him, and offered $300 for his junk instead of him paying me to haul to dump, we would all feel good.

[50mech]

4 hours ago, Los_Control said:

When I was working, I used Mirka sandpaper. When first training as a finish carpenter, that's what my employer provided. And best I have used to date. Surprisingly harbor freight carried the mirka paper and one of the few items I would buy from there ... I am guessing 3M has different levels of quality. I am stuck buying it from Ace hardware, I thought it sucked and found some better paper at walmart, still garbage though.

 

Couple weeks ago I bought a pack of 3m from Ace, this actually feels like better quality then what I bought in the past, not used it a lot yet for opinion.

You can feel the flexibility and quality of the paper backing, more like what mirka is like.

Either way,  I need to order paper online, buying 5 pieces for $10 just not good, I need quantities of a box of 50 for different grits ... and because I know mirka thats what will stick with.

 

3m has a million kinds and grades. Most of what you find at consumer outlets is well, not the good stuff.

Even the economy red is better than the majority of what's for sale at consumer stores.

I like mirka bulldog for majority work. It's okay and it's cheap.

For the last bit where I want a perfect and consistent finish 3m 360l is awesome. It will not load up or wear down , the abrasive comes off the film uniformly, it's either sanding like new or it's clearly toast. This is what I like for 600-800 work on a DA.

[Ulu]

I never used anything but 3M wet-or-dry on cars, But I haven’t refinished a car in 45 years. It’s still what I buy for metal finishing. I was fairly pleased with the Gator-grit paper I bought, but it’s really not as good.
 

Normally I just bought the cheapest Harbor freight stuff for sanding wood . . . until I learned my lesson.
 

In side-by-side comparisons there simply was no comparison. Clogging was a huge difference. The good stuff does not clog quickly and you can knock the clogs out of it easily. It’s really a pain when your paper clogs far before it gets dull.

 

I have been buying small packages lately though, and if I want to do any serious work in the future I will order online.