Synopsis: Using a random-orbit sander is a tedious job, but essential to many woodworking jobs. A rushed job or an inferior product can ruin hours of careful woodworking, so it makes sense to ask some critical questions: Which sanding disk works the fastest? Which offers the most bang for the buck? And which yields the most finish-ready surface? Andy Beasley tested eight product lines of 5-in.-dia. hook-and-loop sanding disks: one each from Gator, Grizzly, Norton, 3M, and Shopsmith and two each from Klingspor and Mirka. He tested for stock removal and surface quality, and weighed price, endurance during testing, and total amount of material removed when calculating the result.

From Fine Woodworking #222

Whether you work all week in a commercial shop or on weekends in your basement, almost certainly you’ll use a random-orbit sander. For any type of wood or grain, it can convert a surface from machine-milled to finish-ready, without requiring a lot of skill. However, I don’t know anyone who gets excited about using a sander. As part of the woodworking experience, it ranks down there with extracting splinters and wiping up spilled glue.

Despite the tedium, however, sanding is an essential step that can determine the outcome of an entire project. A rushed sanding job or the use of an inferior product can ruin hours of careful woodworking. That’s why it makes sense to ask a few critical questions about the business end of the tool: Which sanding disk works the fastest, which lasts longest, and most importantly, which yields the most finish-ready surface?

It didn’t take long to gather the essential components of my testing laboratory: a Bosch eight-hole random-orbit sander, a Festool variable-suction vacuum, a scale accurate to 1 gram, a pair of anti-vibration gloves, and a comfortable chair. I knew this was going to take awhile.

How we narrowed the field: I tested the most widely available product lines of 5-in.-dia. hook-and-loop sanding disks: one each from Gator, Grizzly, Norton, Shopsmith, and 3M, and two each from Klingspor and Mirka. I looked at the Premium gold disks from Woodworker’s Supply, but they proved to be one of the Mirka products already in my lineup. I tried four different grits (80, 120, 180, and 220, all on the standard FEPA or “P” scale) representing the range commonly used to prepare wood for finishing.

I selected disks specifically designed to sand bare wood. Except for Norton’s ceramic alumina blend, all use aluminum oxide as the primary abrasive. Most feature the common “C” weight paper backing, although the 80- and 120-grit Mirka gold disks rely on the slightly heavier “D” weight paper, Klingspor’s VD980 line boasts the very stiff “F” backing, and Shopsmith uses a wear-resistant plastic film. Mirka’s Abranet uses an extremely light and porous polyamide fabric that grabs so well it can cause premature wear of the hooks on a sander’s backing pad (which is why Mirka suggests the use of its $10 “pad saver” disks between the sander and the Abranet). Four product lines—Klingspor’s VD900, Mirka gold, Norton, and Shopsmith—have a stearate coating designed to reduce loading and extend their life.

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