Sanding whole sheets of plywood or OSB

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chris.gid

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Need to replace interior floors and walls of a pod/ shed I have in the garden. Was planning on using birch ply or OSB for something a bit more modern looking.
Looking for advice on how best to sand these, I normally do 80 then 120 then 240 grit sanding for a smooth finish, but this would take forever with a hand held random orbit sander. What tools would people recommend, drum sander seems a bit aggressive and may go through top layer of ply if I use that?
Has anyone used OSB for a floor, was planning on using floor oil to finish, but would this need poly to keep it from breaking apart?
 
Not sure it would be possible to sand OSB smooth, I think it would continually chip out as the flakes became too thin. I’ve watched a few videos where they’ve used Birtch ply as final floor, and they just laid and varnished as was.

F.
 
OSB would do for wall linings. For floor use flooring grade MDF. Could be Osmo oiled or similar. Neither need sanding. Birch ply wrong altogether, and expensive.
 
I like the look of birch ply so keen to have it, price per SQM isn't too bad.
I have always sanded, I find when you oil it any fibres swell up so sanding helps keep it smooth.
Has anyone tried a drywall sander on wood?
 
I have actually stayed in a French auberge that seemed to have had a cheap and cheerful refurb.They had fixed a sheet of OSB to the wall over the bed and given it coat of varnish-it was a bit different.Still had a far from smooth even surface and I wouldn't expect you would ever get one.Probably best to regard any coating as a sealer to minimise staining and dust build up.As such I wouldn't use anything much finer than 120 grit to sand between coats.
 
I've made some commercial display cabinets from OSB and while you can't get a fantastic finish by sanding, you can certainly improve it greatly. I sanded it on a pad sander, then finished with three coats of acrylic varnish, cutting back between coats.
I wouldn't bother sanding birch ply but make sure that you get it with the grain running the length of the board, as the other type is cross-sanded and it's the devil's job getting those scratches out!
As far as using OSB for flooring goes, I think it depends on what use it's going to get. I did a garden building floor with it about 15 years ago and it's still fine, but I did an office floor only 3 years ago and it's peeling somewhat.
 
Those that replied don't sand, why not, won't this leave a rough finish?

Those that have sanded what do you recommend, would a drywall sander do the job, it's just to smooth the surface, I want to minimise the amount of material I remove.
 
As per Peter's comment, i have seen OSB used for finished furniture, in trendy Shoreditch London.

The first place, is Great Art, a shop on Kingsland road - some of their display cabinets that customers come into contact with are made from unfinished, sanded, OSB.

Second place I've seen is one of my workplace offices' kitchen area - the OSB cabinets are sanded, then finished in what appears to be several coats of lacquer. Even the edges are exposed (shelves).

Not to everyone's taste, but I like it, and it's doable.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
 
Personally I think its close to pointless sanding OSB except with say 80 grit to take off rough spots.

With ply I would not run through the grits as finish is not far off as good as you will get it as it comes so I would use say 180 and leave it at that. I would use Abranet and a good ROS connected to a dust extractor. I could skim the surface of a sheet of 8 by 4 in under 5 minutes using a Mirka and Abranet with extractor. This will be quicker and do less harm than say a big belt sander.
 
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