belt or random orbital sander for deck
David Rothman
sand the bench which sits around the perimeter of the deck.
i have a palm sander, but was thinking of buying one of the better dewalt,
bosch or portercable belt sanders to handle the job. in doing some
preliminary research, the 6" random orbital sanders keep popping up. my job
is a relatively straightforward sanding application.
does anyone have any strong feelings on one vs the other for this type of
applic? thanks
Robert Allison
I have strong feelings about both type of sanders. One is for doing
the rough sanding, and one is for finish sanding. Belt sanders are
good to use when you need to take a lot of wood off, such as when
there are deep gouges or uneven surfaces. Orbitals are for
finishing up the work when you want or need a scratch free surface,
such as countertops and cabinets. Everyone has their own opinion
about what is good enough. If you want to smooth off the splinters
and give your bench a uniform surface, use a belt sander. If you
are going to stain it and want it to look like a table top, then use
the belt sander, followed by the orbital sander.
Two different tools for two different jobs.
FWIW, I never use a palm or an orbital sander for anything larger
than a cabinet or piece of furniture.
--
Robert Allison
Georgetown, TX
Peter
<drot...@optonline.net> wrote:
>i'm close to done with powerwashing my (large) cedar deck and i'll want to
>sand the bench which sits around the perimeter of the deck.
>
>i have a palm sander, but was thinking of buying one of the better dewalt,
>bosch or portercable belt sanders to handle the job. in doing some
>preliminary research, the 6" random orbital sanders keep popping up. my job
>is a relatively straightforward sanding application.
>
Belt sanders and sheet sanders are for doing different tasks.
They are not usually interchangable.
Belt sanders are designed to take a lot of material off fast.
Sheet sanders are to smooth a surface. Usually if one uses a belt
sander, they then go over the surface with a sheet sander.
Unless you have big gouges or something in the benches, a belt
sander would be inappropriate.
I have a belt sander I hardly ever use but have half a dozen
sheet sanders of various sizes that I use all the time. I have found
that the trick to sheet sanders is getting really good sandpaper.
Using a palm sander with good quality 100 grit paper should
give you good results in good time. BTW, if you have children, enlist
their help. They tend to like operating sanders, and it's hard to get
hurt with them.
Chris Lewis
I was going to suggest the orbital, because it's somewhat more versatile for
other jobs, and you don't want to take much wood off. Then I thought about
the power washing bit, and realized you're seriously into taking wood off
the deck. So, you'll need _both_.
I personally would never power-wash a cedar deck (amongst other things it
makes it a real challenge to finish it again). And for sanding, at most I'd
be interested in a very light pass to take the fuzz or occasional splinter
off. The idea is _not_ to take off wood, just skim off the sticking up
bits. Oxalic acid is a better way to get rid of the grey (if that's what
you're really intending). An orbital would do the job of knocking off
the sticking up bits just fine. Even a palm sander would probably be adequate
for a bench.
--
Chris Lewis,
For more information on spam, see http://spam.abuse.net/spam
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.
davefr
the grain or damage the bench and now you need to sand it?
Next time clean your deck with a bleach or oxalyic based cleaner.
On Wed, 02 May 2001 02:13:44 GMT, "David Rothman"
<drot...@optonline.net> wrote:
TinMan1332
>bosch or portercable belt sanders to handle the job.
Read my detailed account of how horrible Dewalt's belt sanders are (at
e-pinions.com) before throwing away your money on that worthless brand.
Tom McCartney
Peter <pete...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:3aef826d...@news.earthlink.net...
> On Wed, 02 May 2001 02:13:44 GMT, "David Rothman"
> <drot...@optonline.net> wrote:
>
>
> Belt sanders and sheet sanders are for doing different tasks.
> They are not usually interchangable.
>
> Belt sanders are designed to take a lot of material off fast.
> Sheet sanders are to smooth a surface. Usually if one uses a belt
> sander, they then go over the surface with a sheet sander.
What you say is true, however, David is talking about a random orbital
sander (round disks that rotate and orbit) vs a 1/4 sheet orbital sander.
The random orbitals can't remove material as fast as a belt sander, but they
are pretty aggressive compared to a 1/4 sheet orbital.
David Rothman
alone a cedar one. that said, i had it done 3 years ago and applied a
penofin stain w/UV protection and it looked terrific.
now i'm doing it again (myself this time). frankly i have a large deck and
doing it by hand would be either impossible unless you had an awful lot of
hands.
yes, there are some gouges; yes there are fuzzies. but those things were
also there after i had it done the last time. letting the deck dry for a
week-10 days, cured most of the fuzzies and a light sanding on the sitting
areas (the built in benches (which serve as the rail)) took care of that.
to me there is no realistic alternative.
"davefr" <dav...@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:u74veto5f7nmnige1...@4ax.com...
David Rothman
out long face pieces of parallel planks of wood, it seemed like a natural
for a belt sander with perhaps a final buffing with a less aggressive
sander.
that said, other than a larger surface area, what other advantages do
orbital sanders have over palm sanders? does one typically need both?
thanks
"Robert Allison" <robe...@ix.netcom.com> wrote in message >
Jeff Buck
>
> What you say is true, however, David is talking about a random orbital
> sander (round disks that rotate and orbit) vs a 1/4 sheet orbital sander.
> The random orbitals can't remove material as fast as a belt sander, but they
> are pretty aggressive compared to a 1/4 sheet orbital.
Yeah. I've got a Bosch ROS and it can really hog off the wood at low
grits, but still sand smoothly at high grits. I thinkg it's a good
compromise between a plam finish sander and a belt sander. But if he
already has a belt sander and a palm sander, getting a ROS may be
overkill. Unless (like me) he just likes to buy tools :-)
FWIW, I'm planning on using my ROS on some splintery areas on my deck
that were left over from power washing a few years ago. I'm going to
use my ROS because it's the only power sander I have.
Chris Lewis
> alone a cedar one. that said, i had it done 3 years ago and applied a
> penofin stain w/UV protection and it looked terrific.
> now i'm doing it again (myself this time). frankly i have a large deck and
> doing it by hand would be either impossible unless you had an awful lot of
> hands.
Pressure washing wood is generally a bad idea, despite the fact that many
professional services do it. There's a _very_ high risk that not only will
you severely gouge the surface, but the amount of water forced into the
wood will make refinishing difficult. It's particularly bad with wood
siding that is to be painted. A lot of times the paint will start peeling
prematurely - ie: the same _year_. [Many articles in FHB talk about the
evils of pressure washing wood.]
Doing it yourself just increases the risk of having problems.
Oxalic acid and similar materials, on the other hand, strips off the dirt
and oxidation without disturbing the wood. Wipe it on and scrub (a bit.
Not much scrubbing is required) with a small push broom or scrub brush,
and then rinse off with a hose. A little, but not much, more elbow grease
required, but vastly less wood disturbance/water injection/noise/risk of
screwup. And less time.
Works on the benches as well. All you'd need a sander (and your pad sander
would probably be enough) for is to knock off any pre-existing splinters.
By pressure washing plus sanding instead of oxalic acid type cleaning,
you're greatly accelerating the deterioration of the wood _and_ shortening
the lifetime of the finish (hence you have to do it more often).
It's easy to do. An 8' by 8' section of cedar decking takes all of about
10 minutes to clean with oxalic acid/rinsing. With a pressure washer it
takes _longer_, with greater risk.
I have a pressure washer, and I'd use it on wood if it made sense. But
I don't. The pressure washer is reserved for cleaning off the concrete
walks, and (carefully) on the house vinyl siding and cars.
davefr
impossible?
I have about 500 sq ft. of redwood decking and hand cleaning prior to
re-staining is a simple 2-3 hour job:
1. Spray off the decking with a garden hose (10 minutes)
2. Mix Jomax, bleach and water in a garden spray and spray the decking (30 min)
3. Brush the surface with a long handled car wash brush (30 Min)
4. Repeat #2 (20 min)
5. Rinse (15 min)
You can follow up with an Oxalyic based deck brightener if you want.
P.S. A power washer will not kill mildew
In article <nXRH6.592$4X4....@news02.optonline.net>, David Rothman says...
David Rothman
"davefr" <nos...@newsranger.com> wrote in message
news:_oVH6.6782$SZ5.5...@www.newsranger.com...
> How much decking do you have that makes cleaning without a power washer
> impossible?
about 1000' + surrounding built in benches.
>
> I have about 500 sq ft. of redwood decking and hand cleaning prior to
> re-staining is a simple 2-3 hour job:
if u say so...
>
> 1. Spray off the decking with a garden hose (10 minutes)
> 2. Mix Jomax, bleach and water in a garden spray and spray the decking (30
min)
did that in addition to the powerwash
> 3. Brush the surface with a long handled car wash brush (30 Min)
did that before powerwashing
.
> 4. Repeat #2 (20 min)
did that after powerwashing (just to get any mildew spores missed)
> 5. Rinse (15 min)
>
> You can follow up with an Oxalyic based deck brightener if you want.
>
> P.S. A power washer will not kill mildew
>
took me about 2 1/2 afternoons or about 7-8 hours.
now i need to stain it.
no way it would look this clean with just a scrubbing. plus i tried to be
parsimonious w/bleach (to avoid breaking down the wood fibers)...
David Rothman
"David Rothman" <drot...@optonline.net> wrote in message
news:6DYH6.3689$4X4.3...@news02.optonline.net...
Dan Hicks
Don't buy the plastic Bosch. It is very poorly designed. The heavier
Bosch models may be OK, though.