Sanding: Hand random orbital sander or large vibrating sand

13 years ago

I'm going to be redoing our deck and as part of the prep one of the steps will be sanding it with 60-80grit to make it more porous for the stain to get in better.

Can I use my Bosch hand random orbital sander for the entire deck (~750 sq ft)? Or will I just go through tons of sand paper? I don't normally get swirl marks but should I be concerned about some showing through after the stain is applied if I use this?

The other option is to use one of those huge 12x18 vibrating sanders available for rent from Home Depot, but I imagine those are less precise and still can't be used on the benches and railing. Sandpaper usage wise would it be more economical to go this route?

Before the sanding a stain stripper will applied and pressure washed off to get the old stuff off.

Thoughts?

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Comments (9)

john_hyatt
13 years ago
Bosch really sucks, Makita 5'' random orbit is my vote. J.
aidan_m
13 years ago
I have to disagree about the Bosch RO sander really sucking. I have 2 Bosch RO's and they're actually quite good. They are WAY BETTER than Porter Cable, DeWalt, or Ryobi, which I have also owned in the past.

There are many different models of RO available from every manufacturer. Check the speed of the motor. They're rated by orbits per minute. 12,000 OPM is good. I would not get one rated for less. The Bosch models I own are the 3107 DVS and the 1295 D. The 3107 is really powerful, it would work great for sanding a deck. The 1295 D also has nice power, but it's a bit smaller and lighter. I use it for finish sanding. Neither model leaves swirls as long as you let the tool do the work. Swirls happen when the tool is bogged down by the operator using excessive force which prevents the motor from orbiting randomly. The sanding pad needs to spin freely to leave a nice finish without swirls.
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A related question - how much traffic can a floor stand between the sanding and the application of the finish? I ask because we sanded 70% of our job two weeks ago, and the finish was delayed and didn't arrive to the site. So, we decided to change our original plan (which was to lay hardwood and finish it upstairs in two phases 70%/30% for various reasons, mostly due to large, hard to move furniture) to lay and finish the entire upstairs at once so that we can be wrapped up and back to some semblance of normalcy in time for Christmas. We will end up moving out some more furniture, and have been living on the currently sanded floor, walking through it, etc, for a few weeks before we get to finish it this time. I think I will need to do a quick touch up sanding on the entire floor with my 120 grit (in addition to doing my sanding sequence of 60, 80, 120 on the final 30% of newly installed wood we are working on right now) to bring back the uniformity of the wood just before applying the finish. Then we will shop vac (which did leave some marks on the sanded floor when we did it prior to the day we thought we'd be applying our finish. It gets sucked down to the wood really hard occasionally, and I wondered if that would affect the finish), then tack it with an old t-shirt misted with paint thinner or mineral spirits. Sound OK?
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You might consider pulling the nails at this time, where it's easy and replacing with screws. Do not sand off the finish of the nails or screws. A Random orbit sander is fine, just much slower. A drum sander, you need to avoid cross grain sanding. A vibrating plate sander is best, with touch up areas with a pad sander or orbiting sander in those places you cannot get to.
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It's time to dispel this "no sanding Ipe" myth. I've bought alot of ipe in the past 10 years, and it comes with scratches, sticker stains, chalk marks, anchorseal stains, bird droppings, footprints...and more...and I hand pick every board that I use. You can try these deck wash products, but there ain't nothing that cleans up Ipe like a good sanding with 50 or 60 grit paper loaded on my 5" Rigid RO sander. I plug alot of my decks, so I have to sand them anyway. that said, I sand every Ipe deck before I apply my finish (penofin). Sanding ain't fun, and I wouldn't do it if it wasn't necessary. Get the Ridgid (no affiliation). It's a workhorse (you can't slow it down), has a long cord, and a couple of features that aren't necessary, but that I really like...The plug lights up when it has power, and it has a pic of a sander on it...so you know which plug is the sander. It's variable speed too. all that for 60 something bucks. I have 3 of them. steve
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I did some research too - NZ grows radiata, but as you said it may be harder than the Chilean, even though same species. I found an old forum post in Australia discussing staining radiata, and moderator recommended sanding to 320 or even 400 (I'm assuming the raw wood). Too late for that. But since the wood feels smooth, I think the scratches are just in the finish too - I was using used wt/dry sandpaper, maybe some sawdust/finish stuck on it was rougher than the paper itself, or vice versa, and I bore down too hard to compensate and sanded through the finish in spots. I did put another coat of gel stain on today trying to smooth out the dull areas (and get the edges of the stiles and panels that I took stain off), I'll put another coat of shellac or just poly like I did the first door, then sand with 400. If that looks too dull, I'll put another coat of finish on and sand that with 600, then final coat. I've got a whole house full of doors to do, next one I'll experiment on the basement side of the basement door. I don't like to finish one side at a time (or much ahead of the other) b/c of potential for warping, not to mention taking them off, putting them up with 1 side finished, then taking down to finish the other side, but if I have to, I'll do all the insides of closet doors first til I get the technique down pat, then do all the hallway sides! I've got to get Bob's book, some more tools too. I've been finishing and refinishing oak furniture for years, did a custom tub surround with paneled doors a few years ago (refinished the pine linen closet door at the same time but don't remember these problems - but I didn't strip and stain, just sanded and added a couple new coats of poly), ran into a little problem with staining raw oak a couple weeks ago (another post - the stain finally dried and I did 2 coats of shellac then poly on that). But I had never really worked with pine (except that one door) before 2007, when I started finishing the pine trim in our new house, and I've discovered I really hate it!
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john_hyatt
13 years ago
Thanks Aidan, I probley ment the 5'' Makita takes off material way better, IMO , than any bosch I have used. Not that the Bosch dident work or hold up, and I dont know at all why but thats been what I have seen. J.
weedyacres
13 years ago
How big is your deck? Ours is just under 700 sf, so we rented a floor sander from HD and just used an ROS for the edges the big guy couldn't reach. It takes a LONG time to hand-sand a big deck. We didn't go through an inordinate amount of sandpaper. Can't recall precisely how much.
terrie1066
13 years ago
We just sanded and stained our deck. Used a belt sander for the floor, then an inexpensive 5" orbital sander to get the smaller parts and the railings. No swirl marks, but a nice smooth finish. I would skip the liquid stripper and power washing...unnecessary steps unless you have layers upon layers to remove. The sanding makes a nice smooth surface for great stain adherent. I like to use 80 grit on main parts of the deck and 120 after using 80 on the railings. Just give it a good rinse after, let it dry and you are ready to stain! Good luck!
llcoolartie_hotmail_com
13 years ago
I have to agree with Aidan. I have the 3727DEVS from Bosch and it's a champ.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bosch 3727DEVS
aidan_m
13 years ago
Just got a Festool sander. WOW! This thing is awesome for woodworking. I wouldn't ever use it on a deck, though. It's designed to work on a flat surface, and forces the operator to use correct technique. If you don't hold it properly, it won't stay on the work surface! You have to keep your hand steady on top of it and apply minimal pressure, move slowly and let the sander do its thing. It leaves no swirls on fine veneer, even with 120 grit. And it doesn't round the edges at all. What a nice tool to have for inside the shop.

My point is there are different "best" random orbital sanders depending on the task at hand.
brooklyndecks
13 years ago
I've heard great things about the Festool...especially the dust collection. I personally have 3 5" ridgid ROS, and it's the best that I've used...and I've used many over the years.
You can't slow it down; it has a 12' cord; great dust collection, even without a vacuum attached; and I love the light in the plug that let's you know that the power supply works. One more thing, it has an icon on the plug so that you know it's for the sander. If you have a lot of tools plugged into a power source, it's good to know which one you're unplugging.
I use 50 grit paper on Ipe decks.

If you already have a Bosch ROS, it should do the job.

steve
Georgiev Petar
7 years ago
In case you are looking for a few times home uses at most i recommend u going with B&D BDERO100 or Dewalt D26451 which are really cheap options and offer acceptable quality for home use. In case you are looking for professional orbit sander for professional work with great quality and dust collector that would be Festool 57187 which wins over all sanders in the long run, but is little bit expensive if you buy it for home only. There is also a great random orbit sander buying guide which can help you explore and read about all the other brands available at the US market, however i dont recommend reading about them all because you will get confused.

Sanding: Hand random orbital sander or large vibrating sand

Comments (9)

john_hyatt

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