The most efficient way to sand is to do less of it!

Ok, it's true. We ARE a sanding supplies company, and we DO want to sell more sanding products, not less. But we also know that if we can save you time and money, either through selling you more efficient tool/supplies OR by giving you advice on how to sand more efficiently (or better yet, less), then hopefully we will gain your trust, loyalty, and a few of the dollars we are saving you!

Coincidentally, I noticed this past week a thread on a woodworking forum where a member was asking about strippers. (no, PAINT strippers) His wife wanted a painted kitchen even though the kitchen doors, factory stained and coated cherry, were only a few years old. Obviously his wife watches way too much DIY TV, but after all the ribbing he took about the crime of painting cherry, the general consensus was NOT to try and strip the doors completely, but to clean, lightly sand and paint over the existing top coat.

And this advice is good. Since these are UV Cured, factory coated doors. The finish on them is very good. It would take a LOT of work to remove all the finish, then sand and seal the wood for painting. Why not skip the intermediate steps and use the existing top coat as the base? I did just this a few years back for the cabinets in my home shop. These were NOT nice cherry doors, these were the awful 1987 tract-house cabinets that came with my home. I had removed them when remodeling the kitchen, and put several of them up in my shop to add some much needed storage.

They were kind of grim, but I hit on the idea of painting the fields with chalkboard paint so I could use them for notes, cut lists and such around the shop. Turned out to be a great idea, and highly useful. But being a bit lazy, I did not strip or sand the doors completely, I cleaned them well with TSP, then scuff sanded the areas to be painted, masked and sprayed away.

We will be continuing this thread of saving sanding effort (without sacrificing quality) over the next blog or two, so as ever, we invite (beg) you to share your tips. You can comment here on the blog, on our Facebook page, or via Twitter. -2Sand.com