Festool sander for chair seat?

[David Utterback]

In the middle of carving a cherry chair seat for the first time. The bulk of the material was removed with a hand grinder and a carbide Holey Galahad head. I have been smoothing out the surface with rasps and making slow but good progress on the front portions. Next will be smoothing the rear hollow and edges.

Which random orbital sander would be best for this task and are there any attachments that would be nice to have such as sanding pads? My Dewalt and Porter Cable are not up to smoothing the deeply curved areas. In this season of widespread infections, I am willing to risk a first time Festool exposure.

Thanks for your insights.
David

[Prashun Patel]

Rotex or ceros with soft backing pad

[Dick Mahany]

Might try the Rotex 90. The 3.5" pads would do fine on a highly sculpted surface, In the event you needed to tune the curves a bit, the rotary mode can be quite aggressive, while the random orbit mode will leave a very smooth surface. The soft pad along with an additional interface pad will work well and not alter the sculpting if used correctly. That model is unique in that it also has a delta pad and third sanding mode, but it would not likely help in this application.

[Jim Becker]

When serious shaping is involved, the Rotex is the tool...the rotary mode is great for evening out the work you did with the grinder and then you can switch to orbital mode to do final smoothing and finish sanding up to the point where hand work takes over. I think that Dick is correct that the smaller Rotex may be better for this kind of work, but you have to balance the "current" project with what else you might do. There are three sizes of the tool available, 90mm, 125mm and 150mm. As an owner of the 150mm version, my experience says that the 125mm version is going to give you more versatility over time. And for working these carved surfaces, I agree that a soft pad is going to be needed. The standard pad isn't going to be flexible enough.

[Prashun Patel]

I'd get the 5". The curves on the seat are not going to so tight that you require smaller. The 5" is a good general purpose size for most projects.

[Nick Decker]

Another vote for the 125 (5"). I got the extra soft pad for mine and it's great for contours. (Except during the winter in my unheated shop, when everything is stiffer than usual. )

I also use Abramesh with an interface pad, which adds another layer of flexibility. Absolutely love that sander.

[Matthew Eason]

I have a spare unused rotex 125 if you decide to go that route.

[Darcy Warner]

When serious shaping is involved, the Rotex is the tool...the rotary mode is great for evening out the work you did with the grinder and then you can switch to orbital mode to do final smoothing and finish sanding up to the point where hand work takes over. I think that Dick is correct that the smaller Rotex may be better for this kind of work, but you have to balance the "current" project with what else you might do. There are three sizes of the tool available, 90mm, 125mm and 150mm. As an owner of the 150mm version, my experience says that the 125mm version is going to give you more versatility over time. And for working these carved surfaces, I agree that a soft pad is going to be needed. The standard pad isn't going to be flexible enough.

When serious shaping is needed, skip the rotex and get the ras115. Probably my favorite festool sander.

[Jim Becker]

When serious shaping is needed, skip the rotex and get the ras115. Probably my favorite festool sander.

I've heard that's a good tool, Darcy, and it's probably the bee's knees for anyone doing a lot of serious shaping. It's probably less practical, however, for the "average dude/dudette" whereas the Rotex has the alternative orbital mode. It's nice to have choices!!

[Bill Fleming]

I have made a ton of Cherry and Walnut stools with sculpted seats for family and friends. After the initial carving with an Arbortech I use a Rotex 150 with a soft pad. The 125 might be better but I have the 150. I will say that it is my experience that near and final sanding is best done by hand, it just seems that the sculpted shape causes marks to be left when power sanding, but that may be less with something smaller than the 150 size.

[Darcy Warner]

I've heard that's a good tool, Darcy, and it's probably the bee's knees for anyone doing a lot of serious shaping. It's probably less practical, however, for the "average dude/dudette" whereas the Rotex has the alternative orbital mode. It's nice to have choices!!

I scribe with it, strip finishes, filler work, sanding machinery down, etc. Removes stock 10x faster than my rotex.

[David Utterback]

Thank you for the responses. A Rotex 125 has a new home and I tried it on the cherry chair seat. I think it is a great tool and will perform even better with the flat work I typically do.

As a first-time chair sculptor, I have a lot to learn. Many ridges were left after the Galahad especially inside the curved lip of the hollow. I am taking them down with a Veritas chair scraper after trying the Rotex. The scraper works quite well but is a rather tedious job. The sander works well on the flatter areas although it removes material more slowly than I thought it would with 80 grit paper. That is okay now because I want to sneak up on the final form using the scraper, sander and hand sanding.

Following the advice of others, I test the seat by sitting in it. So far, the longer I work on it, the more comfortable it becomes. That may be a complete rationalization for the amount of work that will be needed to complete this prototype. I plan to marry the sculpted seat with a G&G style chair. If all goes well, it will be matched by an additional 3 or 5 chairs for our kitchen table. If not, I would probably hide it as a side chair in our bedroom.

[Mike King]

A travisher might be a better tool. More control and a finer finish. Followed with a scraper...

Mike