Sooooooo

After many many years of reno's and building and woodwork, I finally, with much trepidation, bit the bullet and sanded my tas oaks floors.

For some reason I had developed this phobia - that I would turn the drum sander on and instantly gouge a trench deep enough for the titanic to hide undisturbed, at least until a wealthy film producer starts nosing about. Such was this phobia, that I was prepared to pay a floor sander $40psm just to sand - no edges as I had done that. So about $2500..

Anyways, I decided to person-up and just goddam do it.

Off to bunnings and got the drum sander, some 60, 80, 100 and 120 grit. The sander already had a 120 grit old paper on it so I used that as a trial/learning phase and switched it on. Slooooowly placed the drum down and started moving.

Hang on a minute - no gouges, no troughs, no nothing, just nice sanding. Spent ten minutes with the 120 and felt comfortable.

New sixty grit and away I went. No troubles - just nice, slow and easy. Then up to 80, then 100 and finally 120 grit. I had one gouge mark where I swung the machine around and accidentally let the drum touch, but that was it.

A couple of days I will hire the big oscillating sander and go over the whole place with higher grits - though I think they only have 100 as the highest as bunnings, but I think that should be okay as its oscillating.

I will be finishing it in tung oil, so am thinking about using the big oscillator to burnish the oil as I go. Thoughts and experiences?

Soooo - if you are drumsanderphobic like myself, forget about it. Just do it. Its no problem.

A short vid;

Drum sanding is easy! - YouTube

Photos







Here the new sanded area meets a new section of flooring I laid and used my festool rotax to finish - then wiped on Tung oil.




Cheers

Dazzler