Sander Recommendation?

[Graham Jones]

Hi All,

I have 9 door frames to strip back to wood. I have used a heat gun on them to remove most of the paint. There is just a final sand to do.

The only sander I have is a £20 jobbie from B&Q. While it does the trick it seems a long and laborious process. Is it worth investing in a more expensive sander, if so what type would people recommend for door frames? I don't mind spending the money if it will save me time and energy.

What about this compact belt sander:

this do the trick, or are belt sanders a bad idea for door frames?

Many thanks,

Graham

[Chris Bacon]

What finish are you applying?

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

Forget that and belt sanders as they are to ferousous and cumbersome for door frams, palm sander is what you need

-- Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

[Graham Jones]

Light oak stain.

[Chris Bacon]

Um, possible problem here. If you don't take enough of the surface off, a stain might taken up unevenly, & you'll get a patchy finish. Your "compact sander" might be best for the job, since you want to remove some timber, but it's "handed", so you'll probably have to get the door stop off, and then sand it. A bigger belt sander wouldn't get into the corners so well. If you're applying some sort of coloured varnish as stain, you won't need to rub off anything like so much, so it might even be possible to do it by hand. Coloured "stain" that you paint, that dries to form a film, isn't anything like as durable a finish as

*real* stain, e.g. Colron.

Anyway, a belt sander will be better than one of they there "orbital" things - you could use a scraper for those hard- to-get-at bits (broken window glass shards with *very slightly* curved edges are very good scrapers).

[owdman]

I'd sand them lightly by hand (cork block with 80 grit) and then repaint them, otherwise they're going to look a mess.

cheers Jacob

[Rob Morley]

I'd be inclined to use Nitromors with scrapers and wire wool - with most=20 of the paint already removed it won't be too tedious.

[John Rumm]

There is a device designed to do exactly what you describe... only I am not sure if you will like the price:

[Andy Dingley]

Ferm chose to make a copy of it, they could do it for the usual seven and six (and it would last about as long as usual).

OTOH, the linear sanders I've used (some American industrial thing that probably costs as much as the Festool) were useless for stripping paint becuse they clogged their sandpaper up so quickly. Fine for preparing new mouldings for paint, but not good on refurb.

[John Rumm]

Yup, I was not suggesting it was not worth the price given the quality - most festool stuff seems to be pretty good in most respects, and they have a very good reputation for sanders in general. Only the OP might think it a bit steep for a one off job.

(personally I hate sanding mouldings etc and would happily spend the dosh if were going to save a few days of very dull work!)

It sounded like the OP was already back to wood after using a heat gun, so that ought no be too much problem in this case.