I refinish about 5-10 floors per year as a side job. After I use my edger - one pass with 60 or 80, I usually use a full trowel filler so I can easily find my gouges. After that I go back with my 6" porter cable random orbit sander (ROS) to the final grit that I will screen with.

I was just wondering how everyone else does it. I know of a couple of other guys that do it the same way as I do. I pretty much came up with this way on my own, as did the others I know.

If you use a ROS, which one? I'd like to try one of the dual mode ones that can be very aggressive like the bosch, but they're pricey. I have a nice ROS and don't need a new one. But anything to make the job go a little faster...

Thanks, Sam

I usually edge sand to 100 grit; 80 if it is a natural finish with OMU. I rarely ROS because I've learned to edge without very much circular scratch. My edger is set-up to cut without gouging the floor but still is agressive enough to cut quickly. I only trowel fill floors with many cracks and holes. If I am to be staining the floor medium to dark, I'll hand sand the perimeter. It blends better than a ROS. But it is slower and harder to do.

Hand sand. Wow. I hate hate hate staining. I try my hardest to talk all the customers out of it. It works 75% of the time.

The ROS is pretty fast, and I hook it to the vac, so it's not too dusty.

What stain do you use? Have you found a water based stain that is any good yet? I just hate the fumes, even with a mask with new filters.

The three brands of stain I typically use are Dura Seal, Bona Dri Fast or McCloskey's Tung Seal. All are solvent based and smell though Bona Dri Fast smells the least of those three. There isn't a water-based stain that works well for floors yet but they're working on it. Supposedly, gel stains work well but I've never tried those. I stick to stains formulated for use on wood flooring.

i'm with gary on this, usually cut the floor with 50 grit, then spot fill the peremiter, and set any shiners. then go back with 100 grit to lighten any 50 marks, followed by handsaning the peremiter, unless it's going natural or another light color

50 - to - 100 is a big skip in grits.

I learned by porting and polishing 2 stroke jetski engines, that skipping grits, just made my job harder, not faster, if you wanted results like a mirror.

I know wood is not aluminum, but I bet if you hit it wit 80 before going to 100, you would get all the deep scratches from the 50, out, with better results.

Standard sanding practice for wood flooring recommends never skipping more than one grit grade. So if 50 were your first go round, then a skip of 60 up to 80 would be the stardard, recommended sanding sequence. You could consider using 60 instead of 50 and skipping 80 to finish at 100, if that makes sense.