What grit do you normally start sanding at after milling?

[Phillip Mitchell]

I know this is vague and depends but...

I’m curious what grit others start their sanding routine at after milling? The planer is typically always the last step on both faces and edges unless the stock is wider than 9”, in which case I can’t feed it on edge through my planer and will rip to width on table saw or possibly tracksaw depending on the scenario.

I have an older 20” industrial level planer with a 4 straight knife cutterhead. The cutterhead is about 5” in diameter and leaves what I would call a great finish in well behaved woods. Knotty woods really crazy grain are generally not as well behaved and do result in some tear out. I typically like to work in well behaved domestic hardwoods and some premium softwoods (vertical grain DF, WRC, Alaskan yellow cedar, etc)

Said well behaved woods will have minimal milling marks and I usually start at 150 grit with my Festool ETS-EC 150/3 orbital. Mill marks from the planer typically clean up pretty quickly and easily at 150 and depending on the need / finish, I may begin and end with 150 and have had good results.

If I have to clean up ripped edges from a table saw I may use the Rotex 150 with 120 grit, maybe, but rarely feel the need to start at under 150. I am happy/ok with this approach but often read of folks starting well below here. I have tried this at times in the past (starting at 100 or 120) and noticed no difference in the end and only more time and sandpaper down the drain. The exception to this is if there is tear out that needs a good bit of material removal around the tear out area and I may start with even 80 depending on the severity of the tear out, but this is typically rare.

What grit do you guys normally start the sanding routine after final milling?

[Kevin Jenness]

Pretty much the same starting point, 120 or 150 on a hand-held belt sander unless there's tearout. I have a 10* face bevel on my planer knives which helps. If I'm working with tearout-prone wood I may take it down the road to a shop with a wide belt in which case I'll typically take off .010" with 100# and .005" with 150, then finish with 180 for film finishes, or higher depending on finish requirements using a 125mm Festool ros. I normally keep a 150# belt on my edge sander and switch to 80 or 220 as needed.

[Alex Zeller]

I have 120 in my drum sander. As for my ROS never anything less than 120. Even then it's more likely I'll start with 150.

[Jim Becker]

100 or 120, depending on the 'what' and the actual need.

[Ralph Okonieski]

120 or 150 unless there is a specific need for lower. Starting with 80 always seems to require much more sanding to remove sanding marks.

[Zachary Hoyt]

I use 80 on a 12" sanding disc and in the drum sander to shape or flatten things, but on the ROS I generally start at 120. I'm mostly not ending up with flat surfaces, so my workflow is a bit different than many. When I make flat fretboards for banjos I use the drum sander at 80 grit to flatten them and then go right to 220 with the ROS and then 220 and then 400 by hand with the grain.

[Harold Patterson]

I generally start at 120 and go up to 180 or 220 depending on the application. Edges may get up to 400.

[Dave Cav]

I generally run my stock through the widebelt with 100 grit right out of the planer. Then I glue up, then widebelt the completed piece to 100 to 220, then ROS sand with 180, 220, and, rarely, 320. The only time I have swirl problems is if I use 80 or coarser, which I almost never do on good projects.

Stuff that doesn't go through the widebelt usually goes 100, 150/180, 220 on the ROS. I use pneumatic Dynabrades, no dust collection.

On smaller projects I'll sometimes use my little Dynabug non-random orbital sander, but usuallly only with higher grits (220 and above).

[Phillip Mitchell]

Thanks for the replies. It seems like we are all somewhat close.

I think this choice has to do more with personal preference mixed with the specifics / results of each person’s tools. I have experimented with starting at 120 instead of 150 as a general rule and it seems like 120 doesn’t necessarily remove milling marks notably faster than 150, takes longer overall, uses more paper, and I have a more more aggressive scratch pattern to clean up and remove. Often times with 150 (only) and using a finish like Rubio or similar, I can see no visible scratch pattern from that grit even in raking light.

The only sanders I have in my shop are 6” Festool random orbits (and a makita belt sander that occasionally comes out to play) and have often thought about what value other more stationary sanders could bring to my work. I could see something like a nice horizontal edge sander with 120 or 150 on it come in handy for quickly cleaning up edges / end grain....but will that create a scratch pattern that is rougher and take more time to clean up than just ganging up a handful of the same boards on edge and taking the ROS to them to start with? Probably too many variables to say.

A wide belt seems like such a good idea for efficiency in theory, but I’m not sure that it would be warranted for the type and volume of work that I do when evaluating what it costs and how much space, power, and dust collection it needs. I am not a cabinet shop so I don’t have the volume of massive amount of parts that are all the same / similar dimensions to run.

...it would be nice to have a smaller one for dealing with shop sawn veneers, though...

Thanks for the replies.

[Alan Lightstone]

I usually start at 120 grit on the widebelt. Then sometimes 150 on the widebelt, but not always. Finish with ROS 150, finishing at 180 or 220 depending on the wood or project.

[Phillip Mitchell]

To you guys with wide belt sanders - if you run something like a glued up door (whatever size will fit) through to flatten / level out all the joints...how much cross grain scratching do you get and how long does that take to clean up after the fact compared to just using a ROS to begin with the sand and flush out the joints?

My joints on things like doors, face frames, etc are usually very close to / are already flush to begin with after glue up and a fairly quick sanding with a ROS usually does the trick but I’m not producing at large volumes.

[Kevin Jenness]

I could see something like a nice horizontal edge sander with 120 or 150 on it come in handy for quickly cleaning up edges / end grain....but will that create a scratch pattern that is rougher and take more time to clean up than just ganging up a handful of the same boards on edge and taking the ROS to them to start with? Probably too many variables to say.

A wide belt seems like such a good idea for efficiency in theory, but I’m not sure that it would be warranted for the type and volume of work that I do when evaluating what it costs and how much space, power, and dust collection it needs. I am not a cabinet shop so I don’t have the volume of massive amount of parts that are all the same / similar dimensions to run.

...it would be nice to have a smaller one for dealing with shop sawn veneers, though...

An edge sander is a very useful tool for cleaning up edges and end grain, smoothing curves with either the platen or idle roller and final fitting of doors and drawer fronts. A good roi for a small shop in my opinion. Mine runs on a vfd which can be very useful for avoiding burning with some woods.

A wide belt is a much bigger investment for all the reasons you mention, but will pay off over time even for a small shop like yours. I don't have room or power for one, but I need one often enough to pay for the service. I am fortunate to have access to one nearby but I would drive farther if I had to. It would make less sense for one-off furniture commissions, but when I have a stack of parts it saves time even including transportation.

I prefer to run door and face frame stock through the widebelt before assembly rather than deal with the cross-grain scratches.

[Dave Cav]

I have an older 4 x 120" Acme non oscillating edge sander. It gets used all the time, one of my most used tools. The only thing I would change on it would be to make it 6" wide.

As far as cross grain scratches are concerned, it's really a non-issue. Probably the majority of face frames and frame and panel doors made in a conventional cabinet shop have probably been put through an edge sander. With the proper grit progression, appropriate depth of cut per grit and use of a platten on the final grit, cross grain scratches really aren't a problem.

[Gordon Stump]

With sharp HSS blades on my 15" planer at 16 fps I use 100 G on the stroke sander. Then 120, 150, 180. The stroke sander produces a very smooth shiny finish. No going around in circles does that!

[Warren Lake]

I dont say I use this grit I test for what im doing. The you tube above id do that walnut in five seconds other than putting the belt on, any grit 22o even. then 220 on the dyna for seconds then 220 by hand with either the hard cork or 1/4 foam block depending on the wood and the grain. Its one block of wood, he made it into a career. If 500 of those blocks then no. Id just test and use two grits, the test would tell me with some overlap either way

Depends on what you are doing. Sometimes I use used belts one maybe 120 then 180 or 220, Stuff is clean off the planer. There is no reason to use all those grits Gordon on a stroke. Its not limited to moving up in grit like wide belts or circle making machines, those you are just chasing out the damage you just did from the grit before.

A wide belt has constant pressure, a stroke is you using it and its you making the pressure, you dont heat your belt the same way and the belt is longer and stays cool better. You dont even damage the wood as deep unless you want to, want to carve a hole you can do it. You cant put a donk on a stroke sander but you can do lots if you have the feel.