Sanding my stairs. Need advice.

[Michael Weber]

I'm really disappointed, I thought this was going to go fast. I am trying to use a 5 inch Bosch ROS to sand my staircase of 18 treads. The treads are stained pine. Because of the depth of stain penetration it's taking me forever for each step. I'm also going through about 4 40 grit sanding disks per step. That's just to get down to bare wood never mind taking out the dings. The disks are Gator Grit brand from the Borg. Would I be way better off to wait until Monday and rent a real floor edging sander? Would there be a significant gain in speed and reduction in sand paper usage? Never used one but I'd do anything to speed this along.

[Jason White]

I did mine with a 6" Festool ROTEX sander on red oak stair treads and it worked great! Great dust collection and the paper lasts a long time.

It's an investment, but you'll find many, many other projects for it (stripping exterior paint, furniture projects, etc.)

Try the 24 and 36 grits (Festool brand sandpaper) in "aggressive" mode, then switch to 50 and 80 grits for the final sanding.

You won't be disappointed.

Jason



I'm really disappointed, I thought this was going to go fast. I am trying to use a 5 inch Bosch ROS to sand my staircase of 18 treads. The treads are stained pine. Because of the depth of stain penetration it's taking me forever for each step. I'm also going through about 4 40 grit sanding disks per step. That's just to get down to bare wood never mind taking out the dings. The disks are Gator Grit brand from the Borg. Would I be way better off to wait until Monday and rent a real floor edging sander? Would there be a significant gain in speed and reduction in sand paper usage? Never used one but I'd do anything to speed this along.

[Richard Wolf]

You seem to be spending a lot of effort to refinish something that will only look ok after all your time and money. By the time you sand all the dings out of the treads, they will look thin and gouged. Pine treads are meant to be carpeted. If changing or recovering the treads with oak is not in the time or money budget, go for a good grade of carpeting.

Please don't take this has anything negative, just MHO.

Richard

[Michael Weber]

Jason , I'd like to try the Festool but I need to get this done NOW and I would have to order it. Richard, we just removed old carpeting and the wife wants the wood. I'd like to be able to remove the treads but there is no way without access to the underside and that would require enormous demo. I have considered overlaying them with thin hardwood but the floors in the house are old growth edge sawed pine and we're hoping to get a descent match although the treads are plane sawed.
Thanks

[David Cefai]

Wouldn't it be faster to use a belt sander to remove the bulk of the material and then switch to the ROS to smoothen things?

Warnings:
1. Dust collection is an absolute must.
2. Keep the sander moving. Otherwise it will carve a "trench" in the blink of an eye.

[James Walters]

That gator grit sandpaper is the pits. I wouldn't even clasify it as sand paper. Try a different brand.

[Benoit Bissonnette]

Your best bet would be to use a paint scraper. Something like this: http://www.arichard.com/en/PRODUITS_DESC.asp?ID=358633 It will cost you some elbow grease but you'll get the job done fast. This way you can speed up the work to remove the finish.

Use your ROS to smooth every thing out after. Don't use any aggressive sanders on pine, you'll gouge it almost on contact.

Good luck,

Ben

[Erik Christensen]

What David said -

I did a set of Oak stairs a few years ago - it was a lot of work but the only thing that made it possible was using a belt sander for all but the edges. I only used the ROS for those area the belt could not reach and also to remove the linear scratches left by the belt when it was done.

If you use a belt sander - start with finer grits than you think you need & see how it goes. Nothing worse that hitting it with too course a belt and having to spend a lot of time removing the sanding marks. Keep it moving AT ALL TIMES, make sure the platen is always flat to the tread and don't try to get right up to the edge as it can mar the vertical wood sections instantly.

[Matt Day]

Gator Grit sandpaper is terrible - you'll be amazed if you try another brand like Norton 3X or the like. It's a night and day difference. I bet you'll cut your time in half by simply changing brands.

When I'm starting to do a lot of sanding with my Bosch ROS, I take off the filter from the sander and hook up my shop vac to it. It's ghetto, but I just duck tape the hose to the sander. Make sure to use a HEPA filter or you're just going to blow your sanding dust all over the house.