Which Festool Abrasives to "Stock" in the shop?

[Will Rowland]

I recently purchased a Festool RO 150 FEQ and a RTS 400 EQ to aid in completing stripping and sanding 100 yrs of lead paint off my house. Coupled with a Fein Turbo II (with HEPA filter) they performed admirably.

With that project finally finished, the sanders can now lead a more relaxed life in the shop. However, realizing that my local options for buying Festool abrasives are somewhat limited (available at Rockler, etc...but not always convenient), I thought I would place an order with Amazon to "stock" my shop with Festool abrasives.

For those who use these sanders, which grits, and more importantly which flavours (Cristal, Rubin, ?) do you usually keep on hand for general sanding and finishing?

[Matt Meiser]

For normal use, I use all Rubin and keep 80-180 at ready access. I also have some really course Rubin I bought a partial box of from someone else. The only thing I've ever used that for was sanding the varnish off a bench top I bought. And I have some finer stuff that is a mix of Rubin and Cristal depending on availability that was part of a group buy--a few of us went together and bought boxes of the finer grits than each took part of each box. I rarely use any of that stuff but its there if I need it.

Edit. Mine is probably Brilliant, not Cristal. Shows how much I use it.

[Bob Marino]

Will,

Agree with Matt, the Rubin is the go to paper for bare wood. Also, the "Brilliant" series can be used as an alternative if you are sanding painted or varnished wood. Even if you only use Rubin, they go up to 180 and you may want a finer grit on hand - in that case get the Brilliant 220.

Bob

[Callan Campbell]

I have more of it for all my Festool sanders, it's my base paper since most of my sanding is bare wood for the most part. For plaster rework, painting or finer sanding, I too use the Brilliant abrasives. My other Festool abrasives are for the tough jobs like you mentioned, old exterior paint removal or floor sanding work. For that, depending on which sander gets what type and grit, it's Cristal or Saphir. They rock in their own enviroment:cool:
If you track it down in Festool's Library, they have a single sheet document that lists all their abrasives and recommended usage, and I believe the machines that will accept that paper[ not every abrasive is made for all the sanders]. They are also known for dropping a grit size with little warning unless you're talking to your dealer fairly often for a heads up. Not a big deal with the Rubin since they seem to leave it alone, but if you get used to buying Cristal or Saphir, it can throw you at your next attempted purchase for a particular sander when they do this.

[Jeff Monson]

Will,

I also stock the rubin, 80, 120 and 180, that covers 90% of my sanding needs. I also have a box of the brilliant 220 and 320. I'm still amazed at how long the festool paper lasts.

[Ben Hatcher]

I bought a box of the rubin 150 assuming that I'd use more of that than anything since my projects are almost always bare wood. I did get some of the 220 brilliant for a plaster job. Surprisingly, my woodcraft store was willing to open the box and sold me 10 of the brilliant 220.

[Peter Pedisich]

I'm starting to prefer the agressiveness of Cristal.

[Jim Kirkpatrick]

Can't say I agree with all the Rubin users here. I find it wears out too fast. It cuts very fast at first then seems to take way too long to get the same result.
I have much better luck with Brilliant.
80 & 120g = Rubin
150 and higher: Brilliant (actually if you get 120 you can skip 150 altogether and go straight to 180. I use:

80 Rubin
120 Rubin
180 Brilliant
220 Brilliant
320 Brilliant


And go with Bob Marino not Amazon. Great service and free shipping with no minimum order. You have just entered a very slippery slope! Wait until you try the saws and the routers!

[Ben Hatcher]

Here's a link to the Festool abrasives guide.

http://beavertools.com/images/products/festool/Abrasive-brochure.pdf

[Jim Tobias]

Not to change the subject, from Festool sandpaper, but I use a mix of Festool sandpaper(like others mostly Rubin), but I use more Abranet(Mirka) than Festool sandpaper on my Festool sanders. I really like the result and the dust collection. I think it can be bought a little less expensively also.

Just my $.02

Jim

[Rick Fisher]

I am not a fan of the red Festool sandpaper. I find it dulls really fast.

I stock 80, 120, 150 in Red, but when they are empty, I will buy Mirka or try klingspor.

I use the Brilliance and stock 180,220,320

I also use foam backed fine grits. 500, 1000, 2000 and have some 4000..
On the foam backed, I recently switched to SIA Abrasives.. same thing but it seems to clog less easy.

I was told by Festool that I was having a bad time with some of the sandpaper because I dont have variable speed on my Vac.. But the problem with the foam back was lessened by switching to SIA ..

[Jim Becker]

For normal use, I use all Rubin and keep 80-180 at ready access.

This is pretty much what I have for my 150/3 and Rotex 150. 80-120-150-180 inclusive. I have a few odds and ends that I was gifted from a friend, but rarely sand higher than 180 and when I do, that's hand sanding for a specific purpose.