Sandpaper Poll

[Scott Hildenbrand]

Ahhhh... Dag blastit... Poll messed up and isn't allowing multiple..

So select the #1 grit you find yourself using..

Then comment below with what grit range you commonly use day to day.

You know.. Inquiring mind and whatnot.. ;)

[Dick Bringhurst]

I use 100 grit exclusively on my drum sander. All other grits on the rest of my sanders including ROS, belt, disk, and 1/4 sheet. Dick B.

[Chris Tsutsui]

I have 120 grit and 220 grit that I use on a RAS. I probably use 120 grit more.

But then a lot of the time when just sanding mistakes I will use 80 grit. Then the 120 grit RAS will remove the scratch marks.

You're going to get answers all over the place because the people with excellent craftsmanship might only need 220 grit. haha

[Prashun Patel]

I find most of my stock is ready to start at 150g.
I go up to 220 dry and then work up to about 600-1000 for finishing.

That's a rough rule of thumb. Varies a little depending ont he situation, the type of wood, how lazy I am, and what I have in the sanding cabinet.

[Bob Sanders]

I'm a 220 man. What does that say about me? ;)

[Peter Quinn]

I use mostly 100G on my drum sander, though occasionally 80G or 120G. I have a role of 150G I don't think I have ever opened?

For the ROS its 80G-400G as the work requires, with emphasis on the 100G-180G range. I mostly sand raw wood by hand above 180G, though I do have some finer grit machine paper for knocking down primer on paint grade work or fixing finishing errors.

[Thomas Pender]

While I tend to use 220 a great deal, especially with waterborne varnishes, I still use a lot of 150, occasionally an 80 and will use 320 and 400, depending upon what I want to achieve. Now if you ask me what type, I would say the good Norton 3X, but for my ROS I would say Mirka Gold.

And I still use my cabinet scraper a great deal. (Would also use my LV scraper more once I can figure out how to use it better.):o

[John Keeton]

As I recall most film finishes do fine when sanded to 220. And, I am sure it depends on the wood used. Since I use mostly walnut, with some oak and maple thrown in, I use 150, 220, 320. If I have a really decent handplanned surface, I won't sand at all. I have a spindle sander for specific tasks, but don't do much in the way of power sanding.

I have recently started doing spindle turning, and have found on the cross grain sanding with a lathe, I get a better finish at 400.

[John Coloccia]

I use 80g most. I even have some really coarse stuff....36 grit I think. The work I do involves a lot of shaping and carving, so I use a lot of the corse grits to quickly give me a rough shape, blend or smooth out marks left by convex/compass planes, surforms, rasps, etc.

[Steve Clardy]

Mainly 80. Then 100 and 120

[Leo Graywacz]

Generally 120 and 150. 320 when I scuff between finish coats.

[paul ashman]

very sharp tools means Mirka Goldflex Soft 180 then 400