belt sander for wood flooring edge
 

Hi everyone,

I live in a ranch built in the late 50's. It has 2 piece molding
through-out, a base piece and shoe molding in front. I had my floors
refinished several years ago. It is the natural color of the wood with
a clear polyurethane coating. I am repainting one of my sons rooms and
would like to replace the molding with one piece that would be
typically 1/2 inch thick. Needless to say there would be approximately
5/8 inch of unfinished floor now exposed with the new molding. I do not
want to use quarter round to cover it. I have been trying to use a palm
sander to bring the sections by the wall down to match. I have gotten
halfway decent results after applying some polyurethane but can still
see a line. If used with a delicate touch would a belt sander be the
way to go? (I would rather own a belt sander than rent a edge
finisher).

Thanks,

Mark

Any experienced woodworker would know finish has to be applied as a
whole to achieve the best result. Matching up finish on a flat surface
w/o showing a line will be difficult for even the experienced
woodworkers. Unless you want to refinish the entire floor or it'll be
hard to get rid off the line. I'd suggest come up with some creative way
to cover it until the next time you refinish your floor.

FC

wrote:
Hi everyone,

I live in a ranch built in the late 50's. It has 2 piece molding
through-out, a base piece and shoe molding in front. I had my floors
refinished several years ago. It is the natural color of the wood with
a clear polyurethane coating. I am repainting one of my sons rooms and
would like to replace the molding with one piece that would be
typically 1/2 inch thick. Needless to say there would be approximately
5/8 inch of unfinished floor now exposed with the new molding. I do not
want to use quarter round to cover it. I have been trying to use a palm
sander to bring the sections by the wall down to match. I have gotten
halfway decent results after applying some polyurethane but can still
see a line. If used with a delicate touch would a belt sander be the
way to go? (I would rather own a belt sander than rent a edge
finisher).

Thanks,

Mark

Maybe I need to clarify. I have sanded past that 5/8" that was under
the molding onto the finished floor so that the finish has been taken
off the finished area. Applying polyurethane on that area that had the
finish taken off resulted in a completely seamless transition. You
could not tell that anything had been done to the floor. The problem is
the area underneath the molding that is still ever so slightly higher
and darker than the rest of the flooring and needs to be brought down.
I am confident that if I can just do a better job on sanding that 5/8"
it will look much better. So about the belt sander idea...

A belt sander is very good at taking off material. There are more than
one factor involved. How hard is your floor material? What number of the
sanding belt is used? The accessibility of the work area (some belt
sander has shape that allows it to get close only on one side) In
general, I'd venture to say unless your floor hight difference is more
than 1/16" or you better have very steady hands. After the belt sander
it will take many pass of finishing sander to get rid off all the marks
left by the belt sander.

FC