Stainless Steel Sandpaper, 5" FINE SANDING DISC: Tool-Box-Hardware.com

Stainless Steel Sandpaper, 5" FINE SANDING DISC

Stainless Steel Sandpaper, 5" FINE SANDING DISC
by Microplane

List Price: ~~$9.99~~
Category: Tools
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Product Details

Manufacturer: Microplane
Product features:

Microplane 33002 2 Pack Stainless Steel Fine Sanding Disc
MICROPLANE

Description of Stainless Steel Sandpaper, 5" FINE SANDING DISC

Microplane stainless steel sandpaper sands 9 times faster and lasts 30 times longer than conventional sandpaper. Made from 400 series hardened stainless steel with a patented etched blade technology, each disc has hundreds of razor-sharp teeth which cut the wood instead of scraping like conventional sandpaper. Fits 5" random orbits sanders with 5 hole or 8 hold vacuum configurations and 1/4 sheet sander. Use only on bare wood. Available in course, medium, and fine grit in 2 packs, 10 packs, or contractor packs. No. 33000: Orbit snader 2 pack, coarse grit No. 33001: Orbit sander 2 pack, medium grit No. 33002: Orbit sander 2 pack, fine grit No. 33050: Orbit sander 10 pack, coarse grit No. 33051: Orbit sander 10 pack, medium grit No. 33052: Orbit sander 10 pack, fine grit

Tools and Hardware Reviews of Stainless Steel Sandpaper, 5" FINE SANDING DISC

Customer Review: A great product, but it's not sandpaper
Summary: 4 Stars

Microplane made a mistake marketing this product as sandpaper. It isn't. It doesn't behave like sandpaper nor does it yield the same results as sandpaper, despite the fact that it's used on a sander.

Rather, Microplane discs transform a random orbit sander into a different type of tool. Think about it this way: an ordinary random orbit sander (like my Makita BO5010 2 Amp Palm Grip Random Orbit Sander with Cloth Dust Bag) with sand paper is a finish sander, the tool you'd use after a belt sander. Mount a Microplane disc on that same tool, and it becomes a "finish planer," one you'd use after a planer (like the Bosch 3365 5amp Planer).

Here's an example of when I use mine. I recently restored a Boos butcher block -- 4 cubic feet of hard maple -- that had been left in a garage for more than a year. Rather than blow through a small pile of sanding belts or a large pile of sanding discs, I took an 1/8 inch off each surface with my Bosch 3365, and then cleaned everything up with a single Microplane (medium grit) disc on my Makita sander. I got a glass-smooth, *flat* surface, rather than the scratched, uneven surface I would've gotten with a belt sander, and in a fraction of the time. And when I was done, I could still use the same disc on a different project.

But when restoring the butcher block's legs, the Microplane was only useful to remove the top layer of grime (without clogging, I might add). I needed real sandpaper to achieve an acceptable finish on the legs. In short, the Microplane discs are useful once you've figured out when to use them.

One note about the different versions of this product floating around. It's being marketed in three different "grits:" fine, medium, and coarse. But there have been two versions (that I know about) of the fine and medium discs. The first difference is that the older versions had full velcro backing, while the current ones have a half-dozen velcro strips. The full velcro made the disc harder to remove from the tool, but it had the significant advantage of preventing dust from clogging the velcro surface on the sander; the strips make things easier, until you find that you have to scrape sawdust from the hooks and loops. But second and more important, the newer discs have many more (smaller) cutting holes, making them much better tools. Unfortunately, the manufacturer hasn't come out with a new-and-improved version of the coarse grit disc, so I suggest avoiding it until they do.

So I recommend the newer version wholeheartedly (specifically the medium grit), but they lose a rating star for (1) the aforementioned velcro mess, (2) the misleading marketing, and (3) the fact that if you accidentally drop your sander with a Microplane disc installed, the disc is ruined.

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