Just wondering what sanding progression you guys use for maple? Currently we palm sand with a 60 grit for our last round of edging, but it is a pain. We have found that 100 papers burn up. Just wondering what else we might be able to do for that last round. Any help will be appreciated.

You gotta be kidding . . . back-up your 100grit with a maroon buffing pad to soften the abrasive pressure ( I first heard them called idiot pads)

. . . I guess it makes it easy for "almost anyone" to run an edger? . . . .adjust the wheels on your edger .
dan

There's only one way to make maple look good and that is to use more abrasives and more time. Most flooring companies leave big machine lines throughout the floor and it doesn't have to be that way.

I big machine with 40 ,80 and then do my edging .I'll edge with 50 or 60 grit and finish off with 120with a felt pad on the edger..Final cut the field with 150 grit.

If the edging is good , I don't have to do much with the orbital .But for areas that need it , I orbital with 120 grit 3M regalite on my 5 inch Dewalt. 60 is much too abrasive and will leave swirl marks. And Norton paper is garbage so I recommend not using it. It burns right up.

I buff in two steps. First I go at the floor with a 100 or 120 sand paper . Once all the lines are out of the floor , I switch to a 120 grit screen. This may sound counter intuitive but it works. Maple is so hard it will wear down all your abrasives quickly so try to get to the buffing stage with the least amount of sanding lines or patterns as possible.

If I had the money, I would get the Lagler trio . It would replace the buffer basically. And as for pricing , I charge 50 cents more for maple than I do for oak. I hope that helps .

what advanced said!

But water popping before buffing never hurts!

Thanks for the replies. 60 actually does not leave swirls with the palm sander. I also use dewalt sanders.

60 on the ROS will most certainly leave scratch pattern swirls!

I always go around the entire perimeter of the floor with my palm sander using the same grit as my last buffing usually 120. I also only edge once with 80. They seem to burn up quickly but hate edging and only want to do it once.