Non-woven abrasives

[Richard Dooling]

"Is there much of a difference in brands of non-woven abrasives like the Scotch-Brite pads and sheets?

I had some unknown brand of the maroon color that left light smudges on maple. Should I not use this material on unfinished wood?"

I originally posted this in the finishing forum and one of the replies said the Scotch-Brite pads aren't really good for raw wood as they can tend to burnish the wood.

What do you use when you want a really flexible abrasive?

Thanks, Richard

[Dwight Rutherford]

I use "Mirka Abranet" brand sheets.
https://www.nainc.org/mirka/abranet/abranet-sheets.html

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Why non woven abrasive and what are you trying to sand? By that I mean finish, roughing, prep....... I'd agree with Abranet, but that's woven. Personally I like my paper stiff. Don't care for flexible papers most of the time, although for sanding finished wood I do love Abranet.

[Richard Dooling]

Dwight, I love Abranet and buy it in rolls. The (4) rolls are hung on a dowel like paper towels. I cut the shapes and sizes I want and have found that I can get pretty good results in small areas by cutting narrow strips. It's also easy to cut circles to use with an angle drill sander.

Kyle, I like the Scotch-Brite type material because it has less of a tendency to bridge small imperfections than paper or even Abranet. It's sort of spongy and conforms to most any shape. I'm using this on bowl interiors to remove tool marks and minor tear out, mostly in prep for finishing. I use it both with the lathe on and off.

Richard

[Bob Coates]

Richard,
How do you hold the abranet on the drill sander? When I asked at a supplier they said it wouldn't work with hook and loop.

Bob

[Brice Rogers]

I have used Abranet with hook and loop and didn't have a problem. It may not have stuff as aggressively as the regular hook and loop but it worked well enough.

[Robert Willing]

I also love Abranet. I love this sanding medium in sheets. I like the 2 ¾ wide sheets, but I back them up with the 3M sanding pads using the foam side against the sheet. For coves I fold the Abranet and foam sheet to form a radius and for tight coves I just pinch the two to form or comply with the smaller radius. For other tight spot I lay the Abranet sheet on the very edge of the foam so the two edges align.

I also use the Scotch-Brite type material, years ago it was called horse hair for padding. I use the green than finish with the gray/black. I never use the maroon to rough. I think the holder sheet tells the type of application the sheet can be used. I get mine at ACE. Some time for spindle work I use the shavings held in the gray medium to give the piece a burnishing. Sometimes this will make any sanding problems really pop.

One more thing on the Abranet sheets I take them and using soapy water clean them with a fingernail brush, rinse them, and lay on paper towel to dry. This extends the life of the sheet. I do the same for micro mesh sheets with cloth backing.

[Richard Dooling]

Bob,

I've used it with hook and loop pads both in disc and sheet form. The link below specifies it as hook and loop. I normally get it from my local Woodcraft but this site has it in lots more sizes than I knew about. BTW they make an interface pad to put on your ROS so the discs don't tear up your ROS pad.

https://mirka-online.com/9a-110-080-mirka-abranet-4-1-2-in-x-10-yd-mesh-grip-roll-80g-qty-1.html

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Kyle, I like the Scotch-Brite type material because it has less of a tendency to bridge small imperfections than paper or even Abranet. It's sort of spongy and conforms to most any shape. I'm using this on bowl interiors to remove tool marks and minor tear out, mostly in prep for finishing. I use it both with the lathe on and off.


Oh! Interesting. I avoid them for just that reason. I like the paper to follow the contours of the bowl curve and not follow imperfections..... just my $0.02.

I "wash" my abranet and Micromesh too.

[Reed Gray]

I tried the Astra Dot abrasives years ago, and tried one variation of the woven abrasives that Vince sent me to try out a few years ago. For the coarse grits, up to 180 or so, it doesn't cut nearly as fast as standard abrasives. In the higher grits, it cuts about the same. Probably a grits per square inch thing...

robo hippy

[robert baccus]

Scotch-brite pads work great on working down finishes such as SS & lacquer using mostly the finer grits. All of then seem too mild or gentle for wood except maybe for a final go over following very fine sandpaper.