Best Type of Sandpaper

[vsquizz]

Just wondering what types/brands of Sandpaper are favoured amongst the folk out there.

A quick check of my stuff shows Prager KMCA in aluminum oxide in the white and yellow varieties.

Cheers

[ozwinner]

rough

[lyctus]

Portugese made Indasa stearate abrasives in grits 80 - 400 are my favoured paper backed and Hermes Blue on cloth for all hardwood applications. These abrasives are specially formulated for raw timber.

[vsquizz]

rough
I was talking about for wood Al:D

Cheers

[TOMARTOM]

Use Genuine Festo Disks for ROS
Norton half sheet (Green) for rough sanding 80 grit
Had belts made up from some German brand of Sandpaper for AEG Belt Sander

Stay away from the "glass paper" which is typically clear compound on brown backing usually found in cheap shops and some hardware's


I also use the Festool pad for snading between coats, it is like a scotchbrite material, in 600 or 1200 grit, excellent on larger surfaces and saved heaps of time. highly recommended

regards tony

[outback]

I've tried a few different brands, mostly use Norton these days. It's pretty easily available round here and peforms Ok.

Generally I reckon better value for money comes from the more expensive brands.

[soundman]

I've had good results with sia, 3M and norton.
But I seem to find different grit ranges in the same product vary in staying power.

one brand will br great in the coarse grades another will be better in the mid grades and another will be better in the fine grades.

And differing modes of failure, some go blunt, some the adhesive holding the grains fails & some clog, before others.

I'm talking about good quality stuff that I would consider adequate but differing results and points of failure.

I must pay more attention & do a proper study.
For sure it will also depend on what the job is too.

[JackoH]

Without a shadow of doubt the best paper is that bluey/grey stuff with the yellow cloth backing made by "Hermes" Comes in rolls about 200mm wide. Available in lots of grades from '60' to, '800' I think.
Also the 'non-clog' velcro backed 3'' circular ones for the 'Vic Wood' Rotary Sander,(in my humble opinion the best all round sanding method available.) ;)

[DanP]

Hermes from Jim Carroll for me. Always get it fast and $4 a metre is pretty good IMO. Got some today. Ordered it Friday and it arrived today. With the shop at the WWW show all weekend it is fantastic response IMO. Normally arrives within two days.

Dan

[rsser]

SIA and Hermes.

A trick for the newcomers - make it flexible by pulling it across an edge first (the back that is).

And Jim's service is second to none!

http://www.cws.au.com/

[Tankstand]

Klingspor for me,

But I've not tried or compared the above mentioned ones.

[Don Nethercott]

SIA and Hermes are both cloth backed sandpapers that come in widths of 100mm or 150mm. Available in grits 80, 100, 120, 150, 180, 240, 320 and 400 (may be one coarser than 80).
Cost approx $4-$5 per metre (comes in rolls, just tear off the length you need)
You can "flap" , "crack" or whatever the term across the tool rest on the lathe and most of the dust will be removed, giving the paper a longer life.
Available from Carrolls ($4), Carba-Tec ($5).
Good strong sandpaper.
Don

[workgoose]

On the subject of the best sandpaper, I would have to agree that Hermes J-flex(the blue stuff on the yellow cloth) is best. Another favorite is their HCAB aluminium oxyde paper. Just a tip amongst ourselves, their factory is in Cheltenham and they throw out truckloads of the stuff as offcuts every day, if you go there and ask nicely, they might let you go through the rubbish bins. But only as a handyman, no commercial quantities! There is also a guy at Caribbean Market selling offcuts of some Hermes product at a discount.
regards workgoose

[Dewy]

The best I've ever used came with a drum sander set I bought.
The set contained some short rolls of various grades plus one roll of CZ (cubic zirconium, fake diamond)
I bought some steel bar to change my short quickgrip clamps into long ones.
The steel was rectangular and the clamps needed all the corners rounded over.
I put the largest drum in a drill stand and sanded two 10' lengths of bar for hours until they fitted.
It's like having sandpaper made with diamond dust.
It didn't wear out that I could notice.
I have looked for CZ suppliers but have found none so far so will have to continue using the same piece I have had for years.

[Phreddy]

(and I'm talking about that ridiculous show on Ch10 - Bright Ideas, or whatever it's called - it's just one continuous advertisement for 3M and a coupla other companies, then they punctuate it with more ad breaks!! AAAAGGGHHH!!!) ;)

Does anyone else get a good run out of that new 3M stuff - Sandblaster, I think they call it. I mainly use such things for guitar refinishing, where obviously the greater deal of work is on predominantly flat areas. Doesn't tend to block as much, and clears pretty easily when it does. Available in most of the popular grades up to about 400 I think, from there I generally go wet&dry anyway for levelling the lacquer before buffing. I find it a lot harder wearing that the Prager AlOx papers, but it's comparatively spendy - guess that depends on how long you can make it last. I haven't come across the Hermes product (with the yellow cloth backing). Might have to look out for it...

Cheerz!

[jur]

A trick for the newcomers - make it flexible by pulling it across an edge first (the back that is).
Why does sandpaper need to be flexible??

I have also heard or read somewhere pulling the paper back over an edge will tend to retard clogging. Why/how?

[rsser]

Flexible means it conforms better to your piece.

[vsquizz]

Following discussion here I looked around for a local Hermes supplier and found none. I guess I'll have to order some in. Went to the hardware and bought up some Nortons for a kitchen reno where I'd be doing a range of jobs like sanding old paint, new plaster, hardwood skirting boards, Kapour french doors, jarrah window frames etc etc. I got 60 grit (green) 120 grit (yellow) and 180, 240 & 320 (white).

As Soundman said the performance varied with the grit. Whilst all claimed to be Al Oxide the 60 grit was crap when used on a float. The 120 was excellent for both timber and paint, lasted for ages on the float or the palm sander. The white stuff in the 180 pre-cut sheets for the gyprock float was good but the 240 and 320 where no good for timber (fell apart) and I went and got some...other brand (I can't remember) that was better but clogged fairly easily.

In future I'll pay more attention to what I'm getting as the performance seems to vary heaps and some of it is like chucking $5.00 bills in the bin.

Cheers & Thanks

[outback]

Note to self:

Send a self addressed bin to squizz. :D

[JDarvall]

Danp,, I'd like to get some of that hermes paper you talked about. Who is Jim Carroll ? prefer to get it from him if cheaper than carpa-tec .......... thanks

[silentC]

Flexible means it conforms better to your piece.
... which is good if you are turning but you don't necessarily want that if you are sanding something flat.

I take what I can get down here. Couldn't even tell you what brand it is but it's about $2-$3 a metre if you buy it in a 20m roll. It's the white no-fill stuff.

[ubeaut]

Have a look at our Exclusive Selection (http://www.ubeaut.com.au/Sanding%20Disks.htm) Sanding Disks for the rotary sander and all 75mm velcro backed sanders and power heads. We are also about to launch 50mm disks as well.


I have used many abrasive brands over the years and up until finding these ones I would always have recommended Hermes, SIA and Norton as the best brands.

However modern technology has produced a couple of new and totally amazing abrasives. Astra (single dot 80 to 180 grit and double dot 240 to 400 gits abrasives) are made by Noretake Coated Abrasives whilst our Champaign selection 500 to 1200 grit is made by Norton but not readily available at regular outlets.


In tests with the Rotary Sander we have found that the Single Dot Astra lasts up to 20 times longer than its nearest competitor, whilst the finer grit Double Dot conservatively lasts up to 10 times longer. I have had some of the 400 grit gut better and for longer than 120 grit Hermes (not knocking the Hermes it's great stuff, just amazed at the double dot)

The Norton Magnum in the fine grits is amazing again all grits well and truly outlasted all others tested. We did 15 demo's with one 1200 grit disk, normal 1200 would have been pretty well useless after one or maybe two demo's.


It is a little more expensive for the initial purchase than the ordinary stuff but it's lasting qualities make it probably the cheapest abrasive around by a good country mile.

At the moment it is only available from Jim Carroll (http://www.cws.ua.com/) and directly from U-Beuat Polishes (http://www.ubeaut.com.au/ubhome.htm), this may change later on in the year but we'll see. It is also possible that we may look at supplying bigger disks for Festo ROS etc. But then again, we might not.


OK sales mode off.... as you were.


Cheers - Neil :)

[JackoH]

I heartily endorse and support Neils comments above. I have used the rotary sander for almost 7 years, ( It's still going strong even with almost constant use.)ever since I did a course with it's inventor Vic Wood. I use it exclusively for bowls etc and often on spindle turnings as well. The Astra Champaign selection of discs together with the rotary tool is the best thing for sanding I have ever used.