Hello.
Anyone have sanded Ipe Wood?
I have a project here in Hawaii to refinishing hardwood floor.
I am reading it is hard to sand and almost imposible to finish.

http://www.woodsthebest.com/Flooring/ip ... Floors.htm

Any recomendations?
Thanks Rafal

Two recommendations from me.

1: wear respirator when sanding, protect house from spread of dust; etc.

2: Convince client that an oil finish maintained with wax is the best way to go. Lots of adhesion probs with urethanes. When we have been forced to do a urethane finish; we wash the floor down with methyl-hydrate just prior to applying first coat. Seems to remove enough surface resins long enough to allow the finish to bond.

Yes thanks but have you done it?
Ipe wood sanding interior?
Thanks

I have recently sanded an ipe floor. Just follow the instruction per NWFA recommendations and you should be fine. Be care to pay attention to the sealer coat, as you must do this rapidly after your final screen.

I have more questions about Ipe wood sanding.
How was the sanding in regards to dust I have found info that the dust can cause some respiratory problems and well as allergies? As far as the finish what do you mean by apply the sealer fast? What happens with the wood after final screen? Thanks

I would like the regulars here to further comment and/or revise any of the following suggestions:

We use BonaKemi Atomic 110 for our Hummel and edgers and the dust containment was pretty good. It was a high end job so we took our time and did a very good job hanging up plastics where necessary. I did not experience any allergy or itching problems. I wore long sleeve shirts and pants and i washed my hands at the end of each day and for lunch. So the dust, to me, wasn't really a problem.

Sanding the wood; we resanded a job-site finished ipe floor, so we started with 50-80-100. We were careful to get rid of any sander marks from one grit to the next. There will still be some at the end, but that is ok. I then used a hard plate with 100 grit paper, afterwards i check for imperfection and hand sanded/scraped/random orbital any necessary area. Then i buffed with 120 grit screen, then i buffed with 150 grit screen. There were plenty of swirl marks, but they were fine marks and they got covered up after the sealer coat.

As far as i know, the wood needs to be sealed immediately after the final screen so as to avoid the releasing of some oil residue that could cause problems with adhesion and drying of the finish. We used Bonaseal and three coats of Traffic on top of that.

Thanks a lot. From the first information online I thought it would be very hard to do, looks like the project is ok.Everything looks liek just s standart proces. The only thing is the oil that can be a problem but if I seall the floor right afer last screen this should be no problem.
Can you tell me what finish have you used?
The brand if you remember or at least fi this wa an oil based product.
Thanks Rafal

I used one coat of Bonaseal and three coats of BonaKemi Traffic waterbase finish

When our clients insist on a urethane finish on IPE floor, we use two coats of "Emulsion" followed by two coats of "Street=shoe", both by BASIC.
We always wash the floor (Ipe, and other resinous exotics) with methyl hydrate immediately before the first coat is applied to remove surface oils. The operative word here is "immediately".
Our general finishing process for thesw woods is penetrating oil finish, but not all clients will buy into that because of the maintenance involved.

Hello Dennis.

Thanks for the details. What do you mean by washing the floor with methyl hydrate?
Do you just wipe it with rags damp in methyl hydrate?
Do you wash it with buffer ?

Thanks

Wash it with rags, dispose of them properly. Remember that this is highly volatile, have lots of ventilation during this process.