Disc Sander - What grit?

[twodoctors]

Hi all,

Relatively new to wood working... not done any since secondary school 26 years ago! I know my tools but not in great details.

I bought myself a second hand Clarke 305mm disc sander. Back in the days I used to use one of these to clean off the edges when I couldn't cut straight with a(ny) hand tools. Now I know the sanding discs are stick-on, so kind of no going back without wastage if I bought the "wrong" one.

I am not sure what grit is on it at the moment. It looks ok, still taking material off quickly (guessing it's 60 or 80 at least). However I wonder whether I'm better off getting a finer grit so I can use it for "detailed" work when I couldn't be arse to sand / file it. I'm guessing using a finer grit will just means taking longer to get from A to B compared with 60 grit (for example).

Advice appreciated.

Adrian

 

[marcros]

too fine and it will scorch the wood. I would go with a max grit of 120

 

[Rorschach]

I all depends what finish you want to achieve. You can get hook a loop discs for faster changes if that is required but generally I see the disc sander as more of a rough stock removal tool for tidying up edges before further finishing. My own disc sander is used exclusively for squaring up rough wood and shaping duties so I go for the coarsest disc I can get which not only means faster stock removal but also longer life and it gradually wears away getting finer over time. Replacing the discs is cheap, they are only a couple of quid, but the time and effort involved is far worse.