Quick way to sand 1" railing sticks


  #1  
Old 08-30-17, 05:36 AM
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Quick way to sand 1" railing sticks

I have around 300 1" wood sticks to sand. They are currently on the wood balcony with a 3" gap between them.
is there any way to quickly sand them or plane off some material?
I'm finding it's taking about 2 mins per stick with a palm sander (quarter square sheet) and that's about 10hrs just to sand before staining them again.
 

Last edited by qwertyjjj; 08-30-17 at 06:02 AM.
  #2  
Old 08-30-17, 06:33 AM
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What is the purpose of sanding them? Are you trying to strip them down to bare wood or just prep it for new poly? What is your end goal?
 
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Old 08-30-17, 09:00 AM
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Take off duty and old wood stain to put new stain on so it matches the colour of the other wood, which will also be new.
 
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Old 08-30-17, 09:56 AM
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I'd start with a chemical stripper and once you've scraped off all that will come - then sand. Sanding alone often leaves you thinking you removed all of the old finish but when you go to stain, you find out the wood is not bare and it won't take the stain properly.
 
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Old 08-30-17, 01:34 PM
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I've tried it, the sanding does the job. I guess I meant is there a quicker way to sand. My sheet sander is very slow.
 
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Old 08-30-17, 01:36 PM
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Start out with a coarser grit to do most of the removal and finish up with a finer grit to get rid of the sanding scratches.
 
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Old 08-30-17, 02:34 PM
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A 5" round orbital is faster than a 1/4 sheet sander. And IMO, averaging 30 seconds per side would be making pretty good time.
 
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Old 09-04-17, 03:44 PM
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Is it worth power planing the sticks to take a small amount of material off on each side?
 
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Old 09-05-17, 02:13 AM
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Only if you can remove them and run them thru a bench planer. A hand planer won't get the top/bottom if they are installed.
 
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Old 09-05-17, 03:58 AM
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They are all removed but I'm worried that a bench planer will remove too much.
 
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Old 09-05-17, 04:06 AM
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These "sticks" sound like porch spindles or balusters . . . . are they just plain flat surfaces or something fancier like these:

https://www.google.com/search?q=balu...w=1600&bih=770
 
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Old 09-05-17, 04:17 AM
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A planer can remove a little or a lot although to plane down to bare wood will remove some wood.
 
 

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