Advice on Woodworking tool - sander
 

Hey,

I'm making some cabinets out of birch plywood and I need to sand it. I sanded the equivalent of 4x8 sheets already by hand, and it wore me out. My dad's old craftsman is missing a piece, so I couldnt use it.

Anyway, I'm interested in getting a 1/4 sheet palm sander tomorrow.

I can get Bosch, hitachi, dewalt, Makita and Porter-Cable pretty easy, so those are the brand choices. Any particular model that would be good.

Thanks

Use a belt sander, and a good one at that.

You are using the $45/sheet birch plywood, right?

I was going to use AB doug fir plywood, but it was 60 a sheet, so I used birch at 60 dollars a sheet. All the building materials are getting expensive, probably because china is buying all of them.

I have a belt sander, but I dont want to take too much off and I have to get into a lot of corners.

The wood isn't going to China, its going to Iraq. Pretty well known fact in the building trade. Halliburton has been buying it all up, and they will outbid anybody.

I really wasn't trying to make it political - it actually is a fact. They have zero trees, and zero facility for making plywood, and we need a ton of temporary buildings there. China gets all the forest products it needs from Vietnam and the rest of IndoChina. They'll be exporting finished wood products to us soon, and when they do, plywood will cost 2$ a sheet and half the plant workers in the Pac NW will be on a street corner with a cardboard sign. So it goes.

Oh, and by the way, for high quality cabinet worker, you shouldn't use a hand sander of any kind - you need one of those table mounted jobs you push the plywood thru.

Plywood is 60 dollars a sheet at TruValue in Flagstaff, AZ.

At homedepot it is about 40 dollars a sheet, but they only had CD grade not AB, which is what I wanted.

So I got birch plywood 3/4 for 60 a sheet.

hmm, now Im torn between the RO sander and the 1/4 sheet sander.

Austin

I'm currently remodeling our bathroom with el-cheapo birch panel cabinets, and have been using my Ryobi palm sander. I think these work best at removing surface roughness without gouging through the veneer. Additionally, I have a belt sander (Skil) and an orbital sander (Bosch), so I suggest that you take the plunge and invest in those tools as well, as they compliment each other enough to justify the investment. Make sure you purchase lots of different grit sandpaper too.

Sandpaper:

100-200 grit pieces you recommend?

I was using 120 grit when I was sanding by hand, it seems to leave a nice surface. I am planing on Varathaning the cabinets.

I would use 220 grit. Birch plywood would only need a light sanding. A belt sander with a fine grade of sandpaper would work well. Don;t leave it in one place too long. ;)

Good luck with the project.

Thanks for the advice.

I looked around at AceHomeco and I saw a few sanders, but Im not sure which one to get.

Post which ones you guys have ROs and palm sanders. Model number as well.

just find the palm sander or larger occilating sander that fits your hand and looks good to the eye.

use 200 or finer grit.

don