sandpaper recommendation

[Jeef]

I am working on sanding the hardwood hallway floor at the wifey's cottage. Its a small hallway with a chimney going through it so it would be hard to use a rented sander. Its like 6 x4
I am using a random orbital sander with Norton 60 grit. I want to go to a 40 to cut faster. Has anyone had any luck with other brands than Norton? The sandpaper is wearing out somewhat quickly.

Anyone ever try the shopsmith, they are more expensive but maybe they will be good.

 

[corvetteguy78]

all i know about sanding is...

left a circle, right a circle.

 

[CAFROG]

Stay with the cheap stuff and just switch it out. Lower the grit (like you said) and cut it quicker. Just be careful. But it's pretty hard to burn with a orbital sander.

 

[Jeef]

The floors don't have to be perfect. I ripped up some old linoleum that was covering the hall and the floors need some sanding from wear before the linoleum went down. I might try my palm sander also to see if it will cut down to clean wood faster, then finish with the random with a lighter grit. Some wear to look is preferred.

 

[invisibledemon]

i second the cheap stuff and change often.
most of the time the problem isnt the sandpaper wearing out, but its just getting gummed up from what is being sanded.
i usually keep a good stiff brush when using smaller sanders to just try and brush the crap off to prolong the life of the paper a bit.
go 40 (or even 30 or 36 grit) to get the top coat off, then jump up to 60, then to 100. trust me when i say that you want to go to at least 100 (120 is better though) to smooth it before laying stain.

 

[neonmike]

The problem with the cheap stuff ala harbor freight is that the grit actually falls off almost instantly. I have used the 3m stuff you get at sears and had good results.

 

[BigJ]

I'd use the better stuff, if you're hitting it with an orbital. I wouldn't go below 60 either. 60 is pretty rough.

Remember to mask up.

 

[Jeef]

I forgot to post an update. I got the shopsmith discs at lowe's in the 40 grit and I got some cheap 40 grit. 4 pack for about $8. I used these and loved them. I only used 2 discs but could have probably gotten away with 1. I changed it half way through just to put a fresh one on. Scraped the edges with a carbide scraper, hit the surface with 60 grit, then a 150 finish sanding. Applied 2 coats of Minwax oil modified waterbased satin poly, sanded with 220, then did the final coat. The floors look great and have some wear marks left which fits in with the character of the 90 year old cottage. To get all the wear marks out I would have had to remove a ton of material.