On 6/22/2014 8:44 AM, Greg Guarino wrote:

I made myself a little "corral" just big enough to immobilize four 9" x
1.5" pieces at a time (four 1/2" ply "fences" in a rectangle) for
sanding. I will probably do something similar for the other size parts.

Much, much more efficient and time saving:

http://www.rockler.com/non-slip-rout...DR-w4J_bTw_wcB


Per advice here (distilled from several posters) I'm going to use (at
least) 120 and 150 grit. The project is made of standard Lowe's-issue
S4S red oak.

I have a random orbit sander and an old (1960's vintage, chrome)
third-sheet finish sander. I'm wondering if I could possibly streamline
the process by using both. I know it's easy enough to slap on another
hook and loop disk, but I'll be doing that every minute or two, or
alternatively setting up each batch of parts twice (or 3 times).

Absolutely use both. IME, even those old "finish" sanders that don't
orbit should do nicely for your final grit as long as you sand with the
grain. Especially important to either dust or blow off each piece after
each grit.

Factors are any milling/sanding marks, and also the color of the stain.
IME, and in most common woods, darker colored stains often highlight
milling/sanding marks less than lighter colors.


If I can get good results using the finish sander for the finer grit, or
possibly even for only the 180 if I decide that's necessary, it could
save me from having to repeat one little irritating step over and over.

Can see no reason not. Be doing a lot of sanding this past week in
preparation for staining a much larger project and used three sanders,
with 100, 120, 150g respectively.

--
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