Electric Sanders Necessary?

after you hot coat, is it necessary to use an orbital sander? could i just hand sand with sand paper on blocks?

yes, you can use sanding blocks. Takes longer but builds upper body strength and its a little harder to sand through the weave when sanding by hand.

sure, but why would you want to? It will take forever and you will not get a smooth level sand. Use a 7 inch sander and power pads. Right tools for the right job.

Actually hand sanding will produce a flater finished product if you use a 12 inch long block of 2x4 with a thin peice of foam in between the wood and paper, only sand from tip to tail, no circular sanding it will be baby butt flat. You can use some pretty aggressive grit (80) to get any zit down in a hurry. It will either build muscle or tear your Rotor Cuff to fuc*ing shreads depending on your age. It can be done, and it doesn’t take too long. Errrr depending on your glass job? - Jay

Fred, Yes, you can do it by hand but it helps to have a good hotcoat. The standard workhorse for surfboards and boats is the large heavy circular sander. These require some skill since they do not rest flat on the surface but must be used at a slight angle. While usually smaller in diameter an orbital is a better choice since it is used flat and doesn’t require the same level of skill. The best finish, however, can be obtained by hand using a file board. These are the long narrow metal boards used in the autobody and boat industries to fair a surface. The standard ones are about 16"x3". The problem with them for garage builders is the paper is usually sold in long rolls which are rather expensive for a one-off project. Your best bet is probably to start with an orbital or for the rough work and switch to a file board. Oh,by the way, don’t even think about a belt sander unless you are extremely skilled-I did one time and the results were not good! Hope this helped some. Patrick

Man… I sanded my first board by hand… I never forget it, It took me two days of vigorous sanding to get it done. That was so much work! I think that I was driven by pure stoke, I couldn’t wait to get it done. But I learned my lesson, went out and bought a cheap black and decker sander for my next board. But I do usually go over boards with a 12" block… especially over the logos… it makes 'em perfectly smooth, you can actually feel and weirdness/bumps in the glass when you run the block over it (from nose to tail).

thanks for the replies. i currently have a belt sander and one of those detail sanders (the ones that come to a point, like a triangle) i figured those werent fit for the job. what im really worried about is sanding through the hot coat which is why i think i will use blocks with foam pad. my next board, i ll definitly buy a sander though. do they sell round backing pads that can go in a regular drill? would that be ok?

When I first started making boards back in the 60s as a kid, all we had was my mom’s 1/4 inch drill and a 5" circular pad to go on it. You had to buy pre-cut paper. Man what a job, took forever, heated up the drill pretty good while we were at it, made all sorts of arcs in the finish unless you were careful. Nowadays you can get a decent 7" 0-3000 rpm variable speed Chinese made grinder from ebay for $45, a soft pad and some disc adhesive, and you’ll do a pretty good job. Still watch out for those arcs though. And don’t start about offshore-made tools, we’ve beat that topic to death. I have several, I use them and like them. Period.

…I use the Harbor Frieght job, two speed (really one speed).But the thing that I like about it is the light wt.,cost=35 bucks,agrodynamics=best anywhere.Life more than 4 years on the first one after tuning it to my specs when it was fresh,and never cracked the case since.I sand all kinds of crap with it.The only thing that’s not working is the constant on button .It doesn’t engage anymore.I can fix it, but I’m too lazy,and I bought 2 others still n.i.b.at the same time when I bought the first one,not to mention getting my money’s worth.I’ve heard people had trouble with them,but not mine,and oh yeah,they cut excellent !Just clean the brushes once and awhile. Herb

would this one be suffice for acouple of boards? 25 bucks…link below http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=46507t

Yes, a longboard is great on boats!WE call them affectionately,“MISERY BOARDS”.They are really fun overhead!!!The guy that sanded my last board used a rockwell half sheet sander for big panels.We use to use a crew of about ten to longboard sand(fair) large yachts-then highbuild epoxy then more fairing–etc etc brutal work!!!But,when a high gloss of urethane as topcoat, your hard work really showed!

I have two of them. Comes with spare brushes, bonnet, rubber backer and Stik-it attachment. All I did was open the head up and put in some good grease, I think they use vaseline in China!..Variable speed works but it takes some getting used to the delayed “soft start”. If you sanded 10 boards with it and it died you still spent less than $3 a board…Less than a value meal! MLC

I use a porter cable. I don’t remember how much it cost. Probably too much. It’s nice and light. I can sand with one hand and sip my beer with the other.

“Misery Boards”, I knew the yacht folks had an appropriate name for them-just couldn’t remember it above. Thanks Sanding Billy. Patrick