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J. Clarke[_2_] J. Clarke[_2_] is offline
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Default This gator's got no power (Lowes new sandpaper)


Was low on sanding disks and had to go down to Lowes anyway so figured
I'd stock up. Instead of the expected Norton or 3M or other well known
brand, I found "Gator Power". Well, I got a pack of 80 and of 120 (no
150 to be had) and tried it out. Wore out six disks trying to get the
walnut stain off of one table leaf (the rest of the table had been
cleaned with harsh cleansers so many times that it had no stain or other
finish on it--wanted the leaf to match). The stuff cut like crazy for
about ten seconds a disk and then just stopped. Didn't seem to be
loaded up or anything and had lots of grit left on it, so it had to have
gotten dull that fast. Worse, it left little swirly marks all over the
place (you know, the kind you get when you got a metal filing stuck on
the disk or something?).

I finally said "screw this" and sharpened up the scraper, which made
short work of it, not to mention taking out the little swirly marks.

It's a limited sample and anecdotal I admit, but from my viewpoint it
will be a cold day in Hell before I buy any more "Gator Power" sanding
disks. It's worth the gas to drive down to Coastal if I can't get
anything decent from the big box stores anymore.