Review if the Micrplane sanding disks - Finally

[don_hart]

Well I have been promising a review of these sanding disks for a whil now. I finally got out in the shop last night and did one. I have done a full write up on the review on my webiste and it can be found HERE

So as to not take up too much of Sam's bandwidth I will just give a synopsis here and you can go to my site for the full thing.

I put the disks through a pretty tough test and was impressed with how fast they remove material from the stock but was initially somewhat dissapointed in the finish even after using the fine disk. Then I went ahead and put a 240 grit sanding disk on the sander and sanded the stock for just 30 seconds and was amazed with the results. So I would say the disks are worth the money though next time I would not buy the three pack and would just buy the medium and fine disks as the coarse disk is too coarse for my needs.

[RodKirby]

Love to look at the review - I get a "can't find" on the link.

[don_hart]

You shoul be able to get there now. If not let me know what IP address range you are in. We may have it inadvertantly blocked. We block parts of the asian pacific rim and sometimes that gets some ranges used in OZ.

[boblon]

I just clicked over there to make sure I could get there. Site looks great. Will plan some time to explore later...time to head to the shop now.

BobL.

[mcgrath4u]

Thanks for the well illustrated review of the disks. They seem to be decent enough for me to give them a try.
John

[RodKirby]

Looks great - nice review

[crokett]

Don,

Nice review. Good info to have.

[monte]

Nice review Don. Thanks for doing it.

[mater]

I just read the review Don and it was very good. It should answer any questions anyone might have.

[germdoc]

Neat products. Something else to add to my "gotta get" list.

[jnesmith]

Great review. Thanks.

A comment and a question about those things:

It seems that you would have to handle them verrry carefully. If the edge of one of those holes gets knicked, it's over. It would likely leave a swirlly scratch mark all over your stock. No tossing them about like you might an ordinary sanding disc.

What is your impression of how they would work on jointed/planned stock? It seems that only the finest "grit" would be appropriate for stock that was already at the equivalent of 120-150 grit.

Thanks again.

[LinuxRandal]

Thanks for the review.

[don_hart]

On the question of how carefully you have to handle them. I would say not very. It is really not obvious from the pictures or the review (I will have to fix that) These disks are made of high speed stainless steel The same thing that most lathe tools are made of (I know that now that I have a lathe ) and they will take some abuse. Yes probably a drop from the bench to a concrete floor or on a piece if cast iron or steel has the potential to damage them. The other thing is that the edge on the holes is not really that proud of the surface (somewhere between a 32nd and a 16th) so most impacts will be felt across the entire cuting edge of a hole so knicks would be reduced.

As to the grit I would have to say that you should use them in the same place as you would a sanding disk of the equivelent grit. One thing that may not have been clear from the review (Another thing I will have to address ) is that my initial estimation of the grit ratings may have been too low due to leftover frayed fibers whe you get done using a disk. A very small amount of sanding(10 - 15 sec) will remove these fibers and give you a result that is the equivilent of about 100-120 with med disk and 150-180 with the fine.

Well now to go update the review. Thanks John keep the questions coming. More questions will allow me to improve the review and will give me more ideas to test with these disks.

[don_hart]

The review has been updated.

[huntersmokey]

Don,

Thanks for the review. I wanted to address a couple of things you brought up. The discs are made from hardened stainless steel. The teeth are made with our patented process to give the razor-sharp cutting teeth. We go to great lengths to make sure the outside edges are not sharp so that no one could get hurt with them. I'm sure several of the people on here are very familiar with our tools. All of our tools have an initial very sharp period and then they get into what we call the "sweet spot" where they cut very well for a long period of time. That is why we posted a range of grit equivalencies. They will start very aggressively and as they are used over time they will move into that sweet spot which is the lower end of the grit range.

Chad