this post was submitted on 18 Jun 2023
14 points (93.8% liked)

Woodworking

6155 readers
8 users here now

A handmade home for woodworkers and admirers of woodworkers. Our community icon is a planter box made by @Captain Aggravated, the winner of our summer '24 woodworking contest. Congratulations!

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Our roof has these wooden support beams which are a pretty rough cut wood, I was wondering which electrical sanding tool would be the best for something like this, an orbital sander, belt sander...? Thanks!

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[โ€“] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

If you have several tools on hand, just try each of them out on it and see which you like best. Don't overthink it.

Aside from that, in general a belt sander tends to be a more agressive tool than an orbital sander. You might use the former first, then switch to the latter for the final smoothing.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I second this. Doesn't look like there is much to remove to get it smooth. I'd be starting with a belt sander and you might get away with a single pass with a medium grit. But if taking too long, use a coarse grit with belt sander and switch to orbital for final finish. Depending on what finish is going to be applied (if finishing is the intent), finish sand with #180 for oil based or #220 for water based.