# Sanding Question



## Sawdust1825 (Jun 9, 2013)

Since I am a novice and maybe always will be I wanted to ask you pro's a question on sanding. I was looking at buying a kit with rolls of the 1" wide abrasive in grits from course to 400 or 600. My question is this. Is the abranet mesh worth the extra money? At Woodcraft it's double the cost. What is your experience with both? What do most of you use and like? Thanks in advance.


----------



## Leatherman1998 (Jun 9, 2013)

Order the blue flex starter kit from vinceswoodnwonders. I have it and it seems to last a long time I have used one 3-3/8 disk longer than I would a whole sheet of paper.

Levi Woodard
Woodardwoodworks.com

Sent from my Rooted Galaxy Player.


----------



## mtgrizzly52 (Jun 9, 2013)

For what its worth, If you are talking about the Abernet roll pack Woodcraft sells, this is one of the main sanding papers I use. Not the only one, but it lasts for a long long time per piece that you cut off the rolls and I think it does an excellent job of sanding both wood and acrylics. You just need to keep in mind that it is an aggressive sanding medium and you generally don't need a lot of pressure or speed when using it.

Rick (mtgrizzly52)


----------



## Kendallqn (Jun 9, 2013)

Another thumbs up for Abranet.  It is worth the extra money.  You will be able to use the same small piece of the Abranet over and over again and a box of it will outlast the normal stuff by about 10 times.  So ten boxes of the normal  at 25.00 so 250.00?? or one of Abranet for 50??  Easy Answer.


----------



## Sawdust1825 (Jun 9, 2013)

Thanks for the info. I just wanted to make sure it was worth the extra money for the Abranet. I don't mind paying more for a better product.


----------



## Dave Turner (Jun 9, 2013)

I've also used Abranet a lot and generally like it. My preferred sandpaper, however, is Norton 3X. I find that I get better and quicker results from the Norton 3X than I do with Abranet.  I use a new small ~2"x4" piece for each project. Originally I tried to get as much mileage as possible from each piece but soon realized this was foolish and not time effective.


----------



## Ed McDonnell (Jun 9, 2013)

+1 on the Norton 3X.  It's stearated though, so a little extra care is needed before water based / lacquer finishes.

Ed


----------



## OOPS (Jun 10, 2013)

In our penturning club, we give a sample pack of Norton 3X to each new member.  It is much longer lasting than the "5 roll packs" sold to new pen turners.  And I can say that some of the grits, 320 and 400, last much longer than 3X (hence the name.)  

Also in our club, there are two people who use Abranet.  They both really like that product.  The rest have continued to use Norton 3X.


----------



## edstreet (Jun 10, 2013)

*THE  800 lb gorilla*

Let me step in here for a minute.

I use Abranet screen and LOVE it.  There is no sand paper on the market that can beat the effects of abranet, reasons include: DUST, heat build up, less paper needed, less clogage, less surface areas of screen needed to do the job and SPEED.

I started off with the small sample packs you can get with the various grit then I moved up to the rolls.







Box = 50x 80 grit 3" round disc.
top left = 2 3/4" x 10 yard roll 180 grit.
top right = 2 3/4" x 10 yard roll 240 grit.
bottom right = 3 2/3" x 25 yard roll 500 grit.

I bought these from 
Mirka Abranet Mesh Abrasive Roll

Also Woodcraft sells a variety pack in the boxes which is a step in the right direction for small small projects but you will find you tend to use 2-3 sizes.  They also sell mini rolls of what I displayed above.  Craftsupply USA also has the small packs but not the rolls.

Also note the screen being more aggressive than normal paper you will need less grades (grit ranges) to do the same job.  Even on the hardest bowls I have worked with it is 80, 120, 240, 400 and 600 is my favorite for hand sanding and you will get the baby ass smooth with that grit.

Do yourself a favor, get the 3" round disc, get the 3" backer and the 3" pad with drill arbor, slap that joker into a hand drill and goto town, you can do the full sanding on a non-round block to final size in seconds with 80 grit screen.  Also keep in mind that the hand drill is REVERSIBLE so that means angle of impact and sanding angle can play a HUGE role, tho granted this is more a factor in bowl making than pen making.

I can not stress enough how effective screen is over paper, with sandpaper the goal is to remove material, on paper it clogs up very easy, on screen it falls through the holes and you can use the screen until it's exhausted (you can do that with paper but you will have to stop and clean it very often)

3" Interface Backing Pads at Woodcraft

and

3" Hook and Loop Pad with 1 4 Shank at Woodcraft

The backing pad is expendable and comes in various hardness.  That is for use by the grade paper you are using but there is no hard pressed law that says you have to use one hardness.  You can also hand hold the backing pad with the screen on.

Some say that abranet screen last 3x to 5x longer than classic paper based sandpaper, generally from what I have seen yes that is somewhat mostly true.  Being a student of water stones I can tell you this much it depends on what you are sanding and the structure of the material.

Some of the higher grade papers out there use a harder abrasive which makes that to last longer.


----------



## KenV (Jun 10, 2013)

Vince sells siasoft abrasives with a foam back.  These are very consistent to grit size and the foam backing helps avoid differential sanding.   Differential sanding makes a round object out of round.

Siasoft works well wet for acrylics and prep for CA sealer or finishes.

Abranet is also a good product 

Norton 3X is fine, and works well with a pad.

The cheap rolls will give you more problems that the low cost is worth (in my experience and opinion).


----------



## mikespenturningz (Jun 10, 2013)

I use abranet and like it but it is not my goto for sanding. It is expensive and for my purpose I will stick with my sandpaper and MM.


----------



## bgio13 (Jun 10, 2013)

When I started turning I purchased the multi grit sandpaper packs from PSI. It took a while, but I realized (and also read on IAP) that it took a lot more time, as well as sandpaper, to get rid of the sanding marks from the 240 and 320 grit sandpaper using 400 and 600. I learned to use the skew to get closer to the bushings and now start with 400 and then micromesh. I use Finkat sandpaper from CSUSA and am happy with the product. Hope this helps,

Bill Giordano


----------



## hard hat (Jun 10, 2013)

I bought the variety pack of abranet that has 80-600 grit sheets, it has been great. for general flat work I use norton3x pretty much all the time. in my experience, the five roll packs sold in penmakers kits and supplies are garbage. sandpaper is a tool and you get what you pay for


----------



## edstreet (Jun 10, 2013)

mikespenturningz said:


> I use abranet and like it but it is not my goto for sanding. It is expensive and for my purpose I will stick with my sandpaper and MM.



Lets  look this cost wise (been there done that)

Wood craft 3/4" x 15 feet rolls = 135 sq in. @ $15. 
$0.11 / sq in.

Craft supply USA 5 pack of 2 3/4" x 5", so that is 2 3/4" x 25" = 68.75 sq in @$5.10.
$0.07 / sq in.

Beaver industrial (link I posted) 4 1/2" x 10 yards = 1620 sq in @$41.38.
$0.025 / sq in.

That is 4.4 times the cost going from beaver supply to wood craft and 2.8 times the cost going to Craft Supply USA.

-----

Lets look at norton 3x paper, 320 grit (same as above) in sheets 9" x 11" and 20 paper pack.  Which is 1980 sq inch.

Wood craft $13.69 = $0.007 / sq in
Craft supply USA $10.25 = $0.005 / sq in

Assuming the 3-5 times longer than the norton 3x is indeed true.  That would be $0.015 to $0.025 for norton 3x from Craft supply USA vs $0.025 for abranet from beaver industrial.  You might even be able to find a source, in bulk, that would be yet cheaper still for norton 3x.

Conclusion: cost is about equal from norton 3x to abranet assuming that abranet will last is 3-5 times that of norton 3x.

Couple this with the other advantages from the screen AND from the paper then screen will win out when the day is over and done with.


----------



## raar25 (Jun 10, 2013)

I had made a switch to using just abranet mesh and had alot of sucess especially wet sanding.  However I noticed the 400 and 600 grit broke down pretty quick aprox 10 pens.  So I now alternate between abranet to norton 3x.  For bowls I noticed the abranet was tearing up after two bowls. I  will use regular sand paper wavy pads in the future because the abranet did not stand up well enough to justify the 4X cost for power bowl sanding.


----------



## edstreet (Jun 10, 2013)

Uhm tear out on 400 and 600 grit?  Dare I ask how you are using it?  I have yet to have one break or rip on me.


----------

