sandpaper. Which brands?

[philSweet]

About five years ago I scored a five year supply of sandpaper and now I'm out. I've only ever used 3M and Norton. I need to buy a few sleeves of regular, boring aluminum oxide sheets and was wondering if any of the cheaper off-brands are any good. Mirka? Indasa? where do you get your grit? Anyone use these guys?--

http://www.onlineindustrialsupply.com/rh9x11drysas.html

[CatBuilder]

I've been using this stuff (by the case) and I'm very happy with the longevity of their aluminum oxide sheets:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...00_i00_details

They are made in Brazil and marked USA1 Abrasives.

[Holiday]

I use Klingspor. The woodworking shop in Hickory, NC is thier outlet store and also the online store. 6" stick on disks are $20 for a box of 50. This is the best I have used.

Note Klingspor was originally in the Hickory area to service the furniture industry here

[bernd1972]

I tried Klingspor and Mirka so far and mirka was way better. While a Klingspor 100 was absolutely useless after sanding 3 squaremeters of Epoxy primer a Mirka 100 was still as efficient and sharp after the same use as a new piece of Klingspor 120.

I´d decide for Mirka when I can chose.

[TeddyDiver]

Most brands come in so many different qualities it's bit difficult to compare.. But my vote for Mirka..

[philSweet]

Thanks everyone. Mirka it will be.

[bernd1972]

Try to get rolls with woven backside. They cost a little more than the "paperback" version but there are worlds between them. Usually I order 1 roll in every requires grain size from one of my favorite suppliers. And I got through my boatbuilding project (65ft.) with 5 rolls...

[Herman]

OVer here Mirka it is. I did a side-to-side test, where Mirka outperformed Sia, Festool/Festo and 3M, and was on par with Norton. With Norton being twice as expensive.

[tom28571]

Each manufacturer makes several different types of sanding material and saying that Mirka is better than the others is not necessarily true. The open weave of Mirka seems better for hand sanding where there is no dust removal available but on a good RO with dust pickup some of the others like Klingspor can outperform Mirka. Whether you are looking for non clogging, long life or speed of surface removal or cost also makes a difference. It also depends on the hardness and species of wood being sanded. I use Sandeze, Klingspor, Mirka, Norton and unidentified material in large rolls. They all work well in some uses and not as well in others.

[HakimKlunker]

I made my best experiences with Mirka and Klingspor. In some cases low quality and short life still is/was more cost effective. Depends a little on what you expect from the surface.

[messabout]

I have used many diferent brands of PSA discs. 3M discs perform better on the aluminum parts that we manufacture. Mirka works well enough but does not last as long. The difference in price/longevity is just about a tossup.

Another is a Japanese product whose brand name is Eagle. It performs well but is not always available. The price is slightly less than 3M. The poorest performers for our application has been Norton.

One of the influential variables is the resiliency of the backing pad on the RO sander. Softer backing seems to cause the grit to strip prematurely unless the PSA disc is on heavy stock which is more expensive. The whole set of choices is a real can of worms.

Note to boat builder guys: You can make a rectangular pad that is the same size as a standard sheet of abrasive. A simple plywood board with a thin sheet of foam rubber like wet suit material. Attach it to the sander and stick the abrasive paper on with a light coat of spray adhesive. This makes a much superior fairing tool for large surfaces.

If you use a a signifigant quantity of spray adhesive, for whatever purpose, check out the suppliers for the screen printing industry. Textile printers use a lot of the stuff and the price is much less than what you'd pay at other sources.

[michael pierzga]

Yah...square pad works well...you need a powerful machine or it overheats.

we use normal sanding sheet and spray contact cement or 3m disc adhesive if you can find it.. Only a light spray

[keith66]

Square sanding pad on a big polisher type sander works well, can get exciting if you hit something though!