Hay all,

New to this forum, I started refurbishing my living space a month ago, just got to the floors today. I am refinishing a floor I did 15 years ago with Oil Base, now I am going with Water base. I need to get all the old finish off the floor, last time I used the Drum Sander it cut right through to the wood 1st pass. I did not want to do another deep sanding on the floor as it does not really need it, so I rented the Clarke sander which came highly recommended by the tool rental worker (Home Depot).

http://www.bobvila.com/articles/diy-floor-sander/

I got the machine home and after nearly 8 hours of sanding the finish is still not removed. I am now told that this was the wrong sander to use and that a random orbital sander is what is needed, such as U Sand which has several round disks instead of 1 pad. Can some one confirm for me that this will in fact remove all the varnish from the floor without spending more than 2 or 3 hours sanding? This has really set my project back and I need to get it done ASAP, any suggestions are appreciated, thanks.

http://www.u-sand.com/default.aspx

neither will do the job properly

should have been drum/belt sander with a pro behind it..but since you didn't do that..do yourself a favoir and just stay with oil base finish..it will cover what was not removed.if you go water it shine right through

Think I am just going to get some varnish remover and get all the patchy areas, I still have a whole room that was not done, I think I will do the same for that, varnish remover then sand with the Orbital Sander.

A U Sand will do more than the Square buffer will. Unfortunately, the Clarke OSB-18 (square buffer) is very under powered for removing finish. It is only suitable for inter coat abrasion or for finishing off the floor after drum / belt sanding.