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How to Stop Swirl Marks From a Random Orbital Sander · Repcolite Home Improvement Show

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Hey, everybody. Thanks for tuning in. You're listening to Home
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: in Progress by Repco Light Paints, sponsored by Benjamin Moore.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: And this week, I've got a couple of different topics
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  Speaker 1: that we're going to take. We're going to break the
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  Speaker 1: show into two parts. The last half of the show,
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  Speaker 1: I've got some random orbital sander tips. If you've ever
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: used a random orbital sander, and most of us have,
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  Speaker 1: If you've ever done that and you've looked at the
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  Speaker 1: surface that you've sanded and you've seen all these little,
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  Speaker 1: they look like pigtail swirls, you know, little swirls in
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  Speaker 1: the wood, little scratches in the wood. You see them
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  Speaker 1: when you stain it. If you've ever run into that,
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  Speaker 1: I can tell you how to avoid that pretty much
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  Speaker 1: every time you use the sander. So we're going to
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  Speaker 1: get to that at the second half of the show.
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  Speaker 1: But this first half, I want to go back and
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  Speaker 1: talk about an interview that I ran last week with
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  Speaker 1: Jean Stouffer and her daughter, Grace Start from Jean Stouffer Designs.
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  Speaker 1: And in that interview, we covered a lot of info.
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  Speaker 1: If you missed it, just go check out last week's episode.
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  Speaker 1: We're not going to relive it here. We're just going
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  Speaker 1: to focus on one part of it. And there wasn't
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  Speaker 1: just one part of the conversation that was really intriguing
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  Speaker 1: to me. There was a lot that was intriguing. We
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: covered everything from building a business to working together as
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  Speaker 1: mother and daughter, raising families. We talked about that a
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  Speaker 1: little bit. Renovating older houses. We talked about their television show.
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  Speaker 1: So a ton of interesting things were covered. But one
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  Speaker 1: particular conversation sent me down a rabbit hole. See, Jean
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  Speaker 1: was talking about how she got interested in kitchen design.
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  Speaker 1: And she and her husband, she explained, had a kitchen
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  Speaker 1: that needed work. And this was before she was doing
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  Speaker 1: any of this on a big scale. She had her
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  Speaker 1: own kitchen and it needed work. And she went looking
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  Speaker 1: for ideas. And she found something in British magazines that
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  Speaker 1: really grabbed her eye. Listen to how she describes that
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  Speaker 1: whole search.
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  Speaker 2: So this was over 30 years ago. and it was
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  Speaker 2: just the beginning of the era of people thinking of
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  Speaker 2: the kitchen as a room that wasn't just utility where
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  Speaker 2: it could be a gathering space that was beautiful and
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  Speaker 2: I really wanted that for my home and I was
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  Speaker 2: pursuing trying to understand what it could be beyond what
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  Speaker 2: American kitchens were at the point and I found what
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  Speaker 2: I was looking for when I found foreign magazines, particularly
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  Speaker 2: English or British kitchens.
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  Speaker 1: They had better kitchens.
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  Speaker 2: It was a different way of thinking about it. It
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  Speaker 2: was more of a gathering space. It was like a
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  Speaker 2: keeping room concept. It had furniture in it. There was
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  Speaker 2: a coziness to it and a beauty to it that
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  Speaker 2: we just had boxes screwed up on walls. You know,
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  Speaker 2: and there was something there was something just, oh, like
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  Speaker 2: intriguing and and inviting about the whole thing.
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  Speaker 1: Furniture, coziness, a gathering space. That's what stood out to her.
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  Speaker 1: And she told us that she sat down at her
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  Speaker 1: drafting table with all of those magazines and with a
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  Speaker 1: magnifying glass. And she was trying to work out the details.
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  Speaker 1: You know, what was making these kitchens feel so different?
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  Speaker 1: And I wanted to know, too. So I started digging around.
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  Speaker 1: ever since that interview, and I've been digging. And in
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  Speaker 1: the process of all of that digging, one of the
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  Speaker 1: British designers that I kept running into was a man
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  Speaker 1: named Johnny Gray. Now, Jean didn't say whose kitchens she
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  Speaker 1: was looking at. You know, that didn't come up in
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  Speaker 1: the conversation. Just British, British kitchens. I can't say British.
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  Speaker 1: Seems like I want to slur it. English kitchens. No,
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  Speaker 1: I can't say kitchens. Good heavens, you know what I'm
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  Speaker 1: talking about. She didn't say it was Gray's work that
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  Speaker 1: she was looking at, but his work was getting a
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  Speaker 1: ton of attention right around the time she was looking.
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  Speaker 1: And his ideas line up remarkably well with what she described.
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  Speaker 1: And so I ended up really digging into him and
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  Speaker 1: it was really interesting. You know, he was asking way
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  Speaker 1: bigger questions about the kitchen than a lot of people,
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  Speaker 1: you know, a lot of his contemporaries were asking at
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  Speaker 1: the time. He wasn't just looking at the kitchen and saying,
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  Speaker 1: you know, where should the fridge go and where should
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  Speaker 1: the stove go? He was looking at the space and
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  Speaker 1: thinking and asking, what kind of life do the people
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  Speaker 1: living here want this room to make possible for them?
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  Speaker 1: So those are big questions, really interesting questions. And so
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  Speaker 1: I've dug into that and I want to spend some
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  Speaker 1: time with him on the show here. Not him. No, man, someday, maybe.
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  Speaker 1: But with his story, let's let's focus on this story
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  Speaker 1: and talk about his philosophy of kitchen design, because it
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  Speaker 1: marries really well. into what we covered last week. And
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  Speaker 1: there's a ton of practical stuff in here. All right.
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  Speaker 1: Johnny Gray grew up in London in a big family.
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  Speaker 1: His mother, she was always busy. You know, big family.
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  Speaker 1: Moms are busy, right? And he said, if you wanted
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  Speaker 1: to find mom, the place to go looking was the kitchen.
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  Speaker 1: And the kitchen in that particular home was a small,
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  Speaker 1: dark basement kitchen. Not a very fun place to go.
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  Speaker 1: But that's where he went when he wanted to spend
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  Speaker 1: time with his mom. And while he was down there
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  Speaker 1: chatting it up, telling her what school was like, and
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  Speaker 1: probably talking about, you know, who knows what, while he's
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  Speaker 1: down there doing that, he usually ends up helping. He
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  Speaker 1: remembers peeling potatoes as a little kid at the counter.
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  Speaker 1: And he also remembers, you know, not just peeling the potatoes,
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  Speaker 1: but peeling them at a counter that was built for
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  Speaker 1: somebody a lot taller. You know, it wasn't a comfortable workspace.
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  Speaker 1: That's important. It comes out later in his story. Anyway,
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  Speaker 1: so that was the first kitchen that he remembers as
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  Speaker 1: time goes by the family. ends up getting a cottage
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  Speaker 1: out in the country. And that kitchen at that place
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  Speaker 1: wasn't a whole lot better, you know, not a lot
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  Speaker 1: more comfortable. He remembered hard wooden chairs, hardly any counter space,
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  Speaker 1: no heat, you know, not a great place, but still
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  Speaker 1: he and his brothers and his mom would sit in
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  Speaker 1: there for hours, reading, talking, working, all of that stuff.
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  Speaker 1: And that part really gets me. I really liked that.
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  Speaker 1: You know, nobody was gathering in that kitchen and because
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  Speaker 1: somebody had designed this amazing, spectacular room for gathering. You know,
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  Speaker 1: that kitchen had plenty working against it, a ton working
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  Speaker 1: against it. But it was where they found mom. You know,
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  Speaker 1: it was where they talked. It was where family life
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  Speaker 1: was happening. And that stuck with him. You know, he
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  Speaker 1: kept thinking, if this room, you know, if this is
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  Speaker 1: the room that people are drawn to, the kitchen, if
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  Speaker 1: they're naturally drawn to it, what if design actually helped
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  Speaker 1: You know, make that process better. You know, could people
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  Speaker 1: become more comfortable in a space like that? Could they
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  Speaker 1: pitch in more often? Could the room make spending time
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  Speaker 1: together easier if design actually got involved and tried to,
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  Speaker 1: you know, actively help make that space better? So he's
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  Speaker 1: asking those questions, and those questions and the answers that
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  Speaker 1: he came up with led him to go take on
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  Speaker 1: something most of us would never even think twice about
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  Speaker 1: challenging or questioning, the way a kitchen is built. In 1980,
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  Speaker 1: he wrote a piece for the Sunday Times in London
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  Speaker 1: with a title that pretty much says it all. Title
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  Speaker 1: was this. Why this awful fixation with fitted kitchens? You know,
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  Speaker 1: that tells you right where he stands. And he proposed
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  Speaker 1: an alternative to fitted kitchens and he called them unfitted kitchens. Now,
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  Speaker 1: quick definition, probably got to cover some ground here. So
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  Speaker 1: we're all talking about the same thing. A fitted kitchen.
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  Speaker 1: It's basically what most of us picture when we hear
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  Speaker 1: the word kitchen. Gene called it boxes on walls, built-in
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  Speaker 1: cabinets along the walls, counters running across the top of
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  Speaker 1: those lower cabinets and then upper cabinets above. Appliances, they're
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  Speaker 1: all fitted into their slots and everything's coordinated into one system.
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  Speaker 1: You know, that's a fitted kitchen. It's not a bad idea.
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  Speaker 1: A lot of the thinking behind it is all about efficiency.
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  Speaker 1: You know, good prep space, convenient storage, surfaces that are
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  Speaker 1: easy to clean. getting from the refrigerator to the sink
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  Speaker 1: to the stove without walking halfway across the house. Those
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  Speaker 1: things matter. Those are good things. If you've ever cooked
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  Speaker 1: in a kitchen that fights you, you know how much
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  Speaker 1: those things matter. Gray wasn't throwing all of that out.
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  Speaker 1: He wasn't tossing that away. He was just wanting to
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  Speaker 1: focus the same attention on everything else that happens in
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  Speaker 1: the room, not just the cooking and the food prep.
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  Speaker 1: He said that in his mind, The kitchen may be
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  Speaker 1: the last place in the house where people really gather
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  Speaker 1: to talk. You know, think about it. Food is often
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  Speaker 1: one of the ways that we show affection for each other,
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  Speaker 1: you know, and it sets the rhythm of the day.
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  Speaker 1: So a kitchen, it's really not just a place to
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  Speaker 1: make meals. It's where family life happens. And as a designer,
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  Speaker 1: Gray talks about how when people would describe their dream
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  Speaker 1: kitchens to them, you know, as they're getting ready to
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  Speaker 1: design a kitchen, they would describe what they want, their
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  Speaker 1: dream kitchens. He said they almost never mention the cabinets.
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  Speaker 1: They're talking about a table set by a window, you know,
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  Speaker 1: a view that they want or a setting that they
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  Speaker 1: want to create. They're talking about a fireplace that they
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  Speaker 1: want to bring in. Basically, he points out that their
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  Speaker 1: strongest kitchen memories and their strongest kitchen ideas, you know,
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  Speaker 1: the things that they really want, it's all centered around
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  Speaker 1: conversations around the table, family gathering together. It's not focused
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  Speaker 1: primarily on the cabinets or the appliances. All of those
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  Speaker 1: things are secondary. It's all about setting up the right
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  Speaker 1: space so they can entertain and just be with their family.
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  Speaker 1: Our common fitted kitchens, they're built for storage and they're
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  Speaker 1: built for efficiency. They're not really built, at least primarily,
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  Speaker 1: to accommodate the gathering space idea that Gray was seeing
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  Speaker 1: as so integral to a good kitchen design. All right.
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  Speaker 1: With all of that said, what does a Johnny Gray
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  Speaker 1: kitchen actually look like? We're going to get to that
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  Speaker 1: right after this. Home in Progress is brought to you
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  Speaker 1: by Repco Light Paints and Benjamin Moore. You know, people
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: often think of paint as just another line item on
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: the project supply list. But here's the thing. Everything you do,
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: every hour of prep, every stroke of the brush, all
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: comes down to the quality of the paint. The paint
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: is the pride. make sure it's the best and we're
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: back you're listening to home in progress by repco light
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  Speaker 1: paints sponsored by benjamin moore and we're talking about english
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  Speaker 1: kitchen designer johnny gray and his idea of the unfitted
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  Speaker 1: kitchen not the unfit kitchen or the kitchen for the
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  Speaker 1: unfit it's an unfitted kitchen And if you're just joining us,
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  Speaker 1: here's the quick version. Last week, designer Jean Stouffer told
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  Speaker 1: us that she fell in love with British kitchens because
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  Speaker 1: they felt like real rooms. You know, they had furniture.
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  Speaker 1: There was cozy, you know, just a cozy nature to them.
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  Speaker 1: It was a place to gather. Gray is one of
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  Speaker 1: the people behind that way of thinking. Back in 1980,
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  Speaker 1: he challenged the standard fitted kitchen, you know, the one
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  Speaker 1: built with wall-to-wall cabinets. And he argued that the kitchen
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  Speaker 1: should be designed as much for the people in it
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  Speaker 1: as for the cooking and all that that we do.
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  Speaker 1: when we're in it. So before the break, I asked,
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  Speaker 1: what does it actually look like when Johnny Gray designs
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  Speaker 1: a kitchen? Well, it starts with furniture and furniture brings
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  Speaker 1: a few things into the room. First off, it's going
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  Speaker 1: to bring in the feeling that we already enjoy in
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  Speaker 1: the rest of the house. You know, think about what
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  Speaker 1: makes your living room or your dining room or whatever,
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  Speaker 1: feel like yours, you know, feel like a space you
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  Speaker 1: want to kick back in and spend some time. What
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  Speaker 1: makes it feel that way? You know, a hutch that
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  Speaker 1: was in your grandmother's house, a bookcase, A chair that
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  Speaker 1: you'd absolutely never, ever get rid of because you love
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  Speaker 1: that chair. You know, things with legs, things that you'd
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  Speaker 1: load into the truck if you moved. Different shapes, different woods,
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  Speaker 1: a little bit of history to it. All of those
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  Speaker 1: things make our spaces throughout the home feel like ours
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  Speaker 1: and feel like places we want to be. Now, think
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  Speaker 1: about how many of those things are in your kitchen.
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  Speaker 1: I'll give you a second. How many of those things
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  Speaker 1: are in your kitchen? For most of us, the answer
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  Speaker 1: is pretty low. You know, probably about zero. The kitchen
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  Speaker 1: is the one room in the house that we really
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  Speaker 1: don't make an active effort to furnish. We install the kitchen.
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  Speaker 1: Bringing even one piece in can change the whole feel
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  Speaker 1: of the room. An old dresser holding the everyday dishes,
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  Speaker 1: a chair in the corner, you get the idea. That's
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  Speaker 1: a big part of what Jean was describing when she
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  Speaker 1: talked about the furniture and the coziness that she found
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  Speaker 1: in English kitchens. It's a room that you want to
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  Speaker 1: settle in. Maybe it's even a room that invites you
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  Speaker 1: to settle in. Now, a second thing that furniture brings
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  Speaker 1: is flexibility. And I love this. This is such a
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  Speaker 1: great point. Cabinets get screwed to the wall, right? And
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  Speaker 1: they stay put. Furniture, that stuff can move. It can
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  Speaker 1: change jobs. It can change rooms. It can come with
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  Speaker 1: you when you move. So when your kids grow up
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  Speaker 1: or the way you cook changes, the kitchen can change
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  Speaker 1: with it. You're not locked into a rigid design that
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  Speaker 1: doesn't fit your present life. You've got options. Now, a
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  Speaker 1: third thing furniture brings is storage. You know, not more
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  Speaker 1: storage than a wall of built-in cabinets would give you.
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  Speaker 1: but it's meant to give back what you gave up
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  Speaker 1: by leaving those cabinets out. So each piece of furniture
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  Speaker 1: gets a job. A dresser with open shelves that can hold,
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  Speaker 1: you know, everyday plates and glasses. A tall pantry cupboard
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  Speaker 1: can hold the food. A work table with drawers can
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  Speaker 1: keep the pots and pans close to the stove. And
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: the tools that you use every day, you know, they
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  Speaker 1: might hang right where you use them instead of getting
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  Speaker 1: buried in a drawer. So furniture is a big part
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  Speaker 1: of what makes a Johnny Gray home. design kitchen and
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  Speaker 1: an English kitchen in general, like what Jean was talking
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  Speaker 1: about last week. Another thing that Gray designs around is
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  Speaker 1: conversation and specifically eye contact. Picture this, you know, somebody
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  Speaker 1: walking into the kitchen while you're making dinner. OK, they
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  Speaker 1: start telling you about their day, all the ups and downs.
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  Speaker 1: And oh, my goodness, you know, they never ask about
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  Speaker 1: your day. It's always tell them about, you know, tell
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  Speaker 1: you about their day. But as they're doing that, what
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  Speaker 1: are you doing? You know, you're facing the wall. You're
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  Speaker 1: working at the counter. So you turn around, right? You
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  Speaker 1: say something and you turn back and keep chopping or whatever.
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  Speaker 1: We have conversations like that all the time. We're used
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  Speaker 1: to them. But Gray asks a really simple question. Could
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  Speaker 1: the room be designed to make that easier? And even
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  Speaker 1: more importantly, could the design of the room make those
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  Speaker 1: conversations better? Maintaining eye contact during a conversation, it's proven
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  Speaker 1: to have an impact on the quality of our interactions.
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  Speaker 1: Making eye contact as we speak and as we listen,
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  Speaker 1: it builds trust. It increases a sense of emotional bonding
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  Speaker 1: with the other person, and it helps us manage the
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  Speaker 1: turn-taking when we're talking. We can see when someone understands
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  Speaker 1: what we're saying, when they're getting ready to say something,
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: or just when they need more time to process or
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  Speaker 1: think something through. So if design can increase the opportunities
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  Speaker 1: to make eye contact without taking us away from the work, well,
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  Speaker 1: that's a huge win. So in his kitchens, whenever possible,
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  Speaker 1: Johnny Gray makes sure that the cook faces into the room,
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  Speaker 1: that work happens in the middle. on narrow islands or
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  Speaker 1: work tables, you know, not lined up along the walls.
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  Speaker 1: And these islands that he generally designs, they're long and thin.
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  Speaker 1: And there's a reason he does that. On a narrow island,
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  Speaker 1: two people working across from each other are close enough
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  Speaker 1: to actually talk, you know, face to face comfortably. Now,
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  Speaker 1: another important idea that's integral to making a good kitchen
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  Speaker 1: in his mind is making it a room that people
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  Speaker 1: want to stay in. You know, in his philosophy, a
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  Speaker 1: kitchen should be comfortable enough that people linger and you know,
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  Speaker 1: and just want to hang out there. So a chair
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  Speaker 1: is crucial, a window seat, a spot in the sun,
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  Speaker 1: you know, even a sofa, if the room would allow,
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  Speaker 1: you know, that's not off the table here. You know,
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  Speaker 1: that's something you could bring in if the space allows
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  Speaker 1: for it. Along these same lines of comfort, Gray also
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  Speaker 1: talks about something he calls soft geometry. You know, picture
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  Speaker 1: the corner of an island sticking out into a path
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  Speaker 1: that you walk 50 times a day. Now picture that
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  Speaker 1: corner rounded off, making it easier to move around. So
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  Speaker 1: he uses curves to make those routes more comfortable. And
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: he leaves some breathing room. Rather than treating every available
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: inch as a place for another cabinet or another chair
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  Speaker 1: or whatever, he allows breathing room. So you have somewhere
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  Speaker 1: comfortable to sit and enough room to move. And then
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  Speaker 1: there's the atmosphere around you. You know, while you're cooking
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  Speaker 1: and cleaning up, you need good light to see what
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  Speaker 1: you're doing. But when the work's done, the lighting can
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  Speaker 1: change along with the activity, and that's desirable. You know,
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  Speaker 1: he calls that the evening kitchen. The bright overhead lighting
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  Speaker 1: can give way to a lamp or softer lights around
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  Speaker 1: the places people are sitting. Think about your kitchen with
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  Speaker 1: every overhead light blazing. Now picture that same room with
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  Speaker 1: a soft glow around the table. You're sitting with somebody,
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  Speaker 1: finishing a cup of coffee, continuing a conversation. That softer
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  Speaker 1: light is really going to help make that happen. All
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  Speaker 1: of that's about comfort. It's a big part of an
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  Speaker 1: unfitted kitchen. Another aspect of a great design kitchen is
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  Speaker 1: a kitchen made to fit the people using it. I
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  Speaker 1: love this. He calls that I love this because I'm
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: height challenged. You're going to understand in a second. He
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  Speaker 1: calls this idea humane ergonomics. Remember in the last segment,
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: first segment that we had today, I mentioned that Gray's
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: time spent peeling potatoes, you know, in his mom's old kitchen.
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: I told you that that was going to impact his
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: design philosophy. You know, that was going to. show up
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: later on in his thinking. Well, back then he remembered
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: working at the table that was the wrong height for
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: him and it made the work harder. It made it
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: less enjoyable. And so he brings a fix into his
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: designs instead of just buying into the idea that there's
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: one standard counter height for everybody. He thinks we should
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: create work surfaces. Oh, this man is so brilliant. We
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: should create work surfaces based on the elbow height of
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: whoever's actually doing the cooking. And to balance things out
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: even more, he favors a few different heights in the room.
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: You know, a low table where, you know, a grandparent
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: and a grandkid can sit and work together. Something at
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: a counter height, you know, a normal counter height, the
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: standard counter height for food prep, you know, for regular
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: sized people. You know, maybe a higher ledge where people
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: can lean and talk or I can rest my chin
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: on if I want to, you know, just rest that way. Anyway,
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: in his mind, it's all about making the kitchen for
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: the people who will be using it, not creating a
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: standardized space and then just having the people adjust to it.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: I love that idea. Finally, last thing I've got. Gray
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: wants your kitchen to look like somebody actually lives there.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: And that means it's okay if things don't all match.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: You know, before fitted kitchens came along, people put their
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: kitchens together over time. A table here, you know, a
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: cupboard there, a dresser that came from a grandparent, you know,
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: trinkets and stuff that they collected and curated over years
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: and years. Gray wants to get back to that, you know,
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: that lived-in look, you know, that eclectic in a way appearance.
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: You know, he thinks a kitchen done in one material,
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: in one color, top to bottom, he thinks that's just dull.
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: I'm not saying it's dull. He thinks it's dull. And
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: his argument is that a mix of colors and textures
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: actually lifts your mood. Color, pattern, even a little bit
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: of clutter, as long as it's stuff that you actually use,
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: that's what makes it feel like a home. All right.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: That's a lot of info. Next week, I want to
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: make it more practical. We're going to talk about how
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: to take his concepts and his ideas and apply them
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: to our own kitchens without having to rip out all
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: the cabinets or start some huge renovation. So that's next week.
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: But for right now, let's take a break. And when
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: we come back, let's dig into random orbital Sanders and
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: how to get perfect results every time. Home in Progress
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: is brought to you by Repco Light Paints and Benjamin Moore.
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: Think about it. You spend hours prepping, sanding, taping, and
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: then finally painting. Don't throw all that work away with
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: an inferior product. The paint isn't just another supply. The
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: paint is the project. Make sure it's the best. And
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: we're back. You're listening to Home in Progress by Repco
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: Light Paints, sponsored by Benjamin Moore. And last time in
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: our furniture refinishing series, probably two weeks ago, three weeks ago,
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: something like that, Last time I was talking about furniture refinishing,
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: we talked about deciding or how to decide whether an
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: old finish needs to come off at all. all. What
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: I'm getting at is when I start furniture refinishing, when
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: I get a chest of drawers or something like that,
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: nine times out of 10, my gut inclination is that
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: I want to just get everything down to bare wood
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: all the time. I always want to go that way,
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: no matter what's on there, no matter what I'm going
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: to do, you know, once I get it all off,
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: you know, whatever my plan is. And the problem with that,
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: you know, the good thing about that is that you
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: always get down to a really nice foundation and you
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: can build on that in whichever direction you want to go.
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: You know, it's probably the ideal way to go in
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: that regard. Uh, the downside to that is it's a
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: ton of work, you know, watching videos, just experiencing it.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: I don't have to talk about watching videos. I actually
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: live life too. Um, experiencing it. I have spent hours
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: and hours and hours sanding something, stripping something, when in
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: fact I probably didn't need to do any of that.
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: You know, I could have just done a light scuff
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: sanding and put my paint on. So we talked last time,
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: whenever we talked about this last, we talked about how
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: to know when it's worth it, when you should do it,
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: and when you can just leave the piece. Well, for today,
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: let's say that you've got, you know, this piece and
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: you've made the decision and you've got to get it
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: down to bare wood. It's time for sanding. You know,
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: I want to talk about all of that. And of course,
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: before I talk about the sanding or anything like that,
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: I've got to make the big caveat that before you
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: sand anything, you need to make sure that that coating
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: that you're working on is not a lead-based coating. And
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: you need to make sure that the coatings beneath that
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: coating that you're working on, that they also... aren't lead-based.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: So be safe, get a test kit and make sure. Now,
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: once you know there's no lead-based paint, you can sand.
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: And yes, you could always chemically strip that old finish off.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: And we'll talk about that later on in another week.
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: But today I want to talk about sanding instead. And
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: don't tune out immediately because maybe you're not refinishing furniture
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: and this seems like a throwaway for you. If you
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: use a random orbital sander, this is gold. There's really,
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: really solid good stuff in this. So hang on, because
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: a lot of us will use a random orbital sander
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: for this project, you know, sanding a piece of furniture down,
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: but also for all kinds of projects around the house.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: You know, I've got a number of random orbital sanders,
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: and they're the tools that I probably use most often
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: around the house. I've had to replace them multiple times
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: because I've just worn them out with use. And one
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: of the things that I've encountered when I use them.
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: The one big issue, I love them 95% of the time,
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: but there's one glaring problem that happens on pretty much
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: every project I tackle with them is that these random
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: orbital sanders leave behind these swirly little pigtail marks in
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: the wood, right? Little swirly pigtail marks. I know you
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: must have seen them too. And if you haven't, go
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: look at some of the things that you've sanded or
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: sand a piece and then look at it really closely
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: and you'll see them in And then you'll never unsee them. Anyway,
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: they show up in your stain. You know, you get
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: the wood nice and sanded. You put stain on it
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: and you see all these little swirls in it. They
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: can even show up through your paint if you catch
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: the right angles. I did some cabinet doors in my
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: kitchen once years and years back, spent forever sanding them
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: to make them perfect and flawless and immaculate. And they
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: looked great. They felt great. And when I got the
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: primer on and the finish paint on, I thought they
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: were great until I caught some angles on you know,
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: as I mounted them and hung them. And I noticed
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: all these little swirls were still showing up to the paint.
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: It was a real bummer. You know, now after a
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: couple of weeks, you don't see them anymore and it's
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: kind of okay, but I knew they were there. And
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: I know that it's not just me because working at
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: the store at RepcoLite for years and years, you know,
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: helping people through stain projects or whatever, I'd get a
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: number of calls or visits, you know, from people and
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: they'd explain the same thing. You know, they sanded their
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: doors down, And they stained them. And now they've got
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: these swirls everywhere. And they want to know how to
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: get rid of them. And there's really no good way
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: to get rid of them at that point. In fact,
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: I eventually just concluded that the swirls were just part
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: of what you have to deal with if you want
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: to use an orbital sander. And in some instances in
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: the store, I just recommend people to hand sand stuff
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: to avoid them. You know, I just figured you can't
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: get away from these swirls when you're using an orbital sander.
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: So you got to either live with it or go
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: another route. Anyway, blah, blah, blah. About three years ago
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: or so, I ran into some info that really challenged
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: and completely overturned my thinking on all of that. It
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: turns out it's not really the Sanders fault. It's my fault.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: I was using it incorrectly. And so were the people
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: that I was talking to at RepcoLite all those years back.
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: And probably so are you, or at least a lot
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: of you. We're using them wrong. And that's why we're
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: getting these swirls. So anyway, if you know exactly what
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: I'm talking about, there's really good news. You're probably using
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: the tool wrong. And if you just get it switched around,
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: you'll be good to go and you'll get great results.
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: And it works. I've been using everything that I'm going
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: to mention for the last, I don't know, three years
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: or so. Results, 10 times better. I mean, it's night
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: and day difference. Swirls, completely gone. Or at least 98% gone.
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: All right, here are the tips that you want to follow.
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: And I'm not really going to go in any specific
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: order because I don't really think there is one. But
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: the first thing to keep in mind that I want
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: to talk about is to move through the sandpaper grits methodically.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: You know, don't skip grits. When I sanded, I always had,
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: you know, coarse paper, like a 60 grit, you know,
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: discs like that. I had a medium paper, something like
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: a 120 grit, and then I had a fine grit,
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: you know, a 220. And that's how I would progress.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: You know, if I needed the aggressive nature of the
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: 60 grit on what I was sanding, I'd start there. Otherwise,
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: I'd start with a 120, and then the very next one,
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: I'd bump up the 220, and I'd call it good.
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: But that's not the right way to do it. It's
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: not the best way to do it. You're going to
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: get way better results if you don't skip grits. Because
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: there are grits in between the two that I'm mentioning there.
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: There's a 150 grit. There's a 180 grit, for example.
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: And by working your way through them, you're going to
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: get better results. You know, sandpaper smooths wood by scratching it, right?
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: Of course, not rocket science. A coarse grit is going
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: to remove material quickly, right? It's going to leave relatively
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: deep scratches in the wood. A finer grit removes those
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: scratches quickly. and replaces them with shallower ones. So when
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: you go from a 120 straight to a 220, that
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: very fine abrasive of the 220 has to remove every
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: scratch left by the 120. Now, if you give it
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: enough time and you really work it, it might, you know,
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: it probably will, but it's going to take longer than
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: you expect. And it's easy to do the work and
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: end up with a surface that feels, you know, beautifully
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: smooth while some of those deeper, you know, deeper scratch
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: marks still remain. And then they end up showing up
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: when you stain or paint the piece. So that's why
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: the best practice is to work through the grits instead
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: of making a big jump. So 120, then to 150,
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: then to 180, then to 220. When you do it
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: that way, each one has a smaller job to do.
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: That alone is going to help you a ton. So
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: keep that in mind. And really quickly here, just a
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: brief explanation of the numbers, you know, sandpaper numbers, lower
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: numbers are coarser. If you're not aware, 80 grit, for example,
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: is going to be more aggressive and coarser than a
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: 120 grit. A 120 grit is going to be more
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: aggressive than a 180 grit. Basically, the higher the number goes,
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: the finer the scratch it leaves behind. All right. So
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: don't skip grits. Work your way up through each one.
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: That means you're probably going to have to buy extra discs.
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: Just buy the extra discs. It's going to be worth it.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: It's going to make that sander 10 times more valuable
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: to you because you're going to get better results.
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: Next thing I want to talk about is the way
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: you move the sander, because the way we move it
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: across the piece is another surprisingly easy way to create
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: the swirls. Now, if you want to avoid them, there's
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: a few simple things that you need to do as
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: you're using the sander on the piece of wood, and
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: we're going to cover all of them right after this.
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: You're listening to Home in Progress, where the projects are real,
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: the mistakes, they're educational, sometimes painful, mostly educational, and the
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: only thing more stubborn than that old wallpaper on your
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: bathroom wall is your determination to get it fixed. proudly
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: sponsored by Repco Light Paints and Benjamin Moore. Paint with
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: a purpose, people who care, and everything you need to
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: get the job done right. And we're back. You're listening
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: to Home in Progress by Repco Light Paints, sponsored by
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: Benjamin Moore. And we're talking about orbital sanders and how
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: to use them, some tips and tricks to using them
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: that will completely eliminate the little pigtail swirls that maybe
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: you've noticed in the wood that you've sanded with your
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: orbital sander. If you haven't noticed it before, look at
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: some pieces that you've sanded. You're not going to thank
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: me later, but when you see those little swirls in there,
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: you're going to know exactly what I'm talking about because
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: chances are they're there. But you can eliminate them by
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: using the sander in the right way. A lot of
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: us use them, just little things, do little things wrong,
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: but we use them in the wrong way, and that's
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: how we get these swirls in the wood. We talked
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: about a few things last time, but what I started
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: to get into at the end of last segment is
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: that it's all about, or a big part of it,
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: is how you move the sander across the surface. that
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: you're sanding. That's a really easy way to get the
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: swirls by doing that wrong. Now, most of the time
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: when I did it, when I was sanding something, see
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: if this relates to you or if you relate to this.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: When I was sanding a piece, I would ream down
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: on the sander and move it across the surface back
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: and forth really fast. I knew it was sanding because
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: it was gently spinning, right? But I figured that by
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: moving it quickly back and forth over the surface and
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: putting a lot of pressure on it, almost like it's
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: a sanding block. I was doing double duty. It's like
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: a sanding block that's also spinning. It just, it still
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: makes sense in my brain, but don't do that. No
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: matter how much sense it makes, don't do that. That's
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: a recipe for a load of swirls, a boatload of swirls,
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: not the good kind of swirls like in ice cream.
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: This is bad swirls. You don't want them. So don't
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: do that. Instead, let the sander do the work. This
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: is the most counterintuitive part of what I want to say.
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: It's really important though. your hand is mainly there to
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: guide the sander. That's it. If you're pressing hard enough
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: to slow the motor or to keep the pad from
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: spinning freely, you've got to back off. I thought that's
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: when I was really getting into it. No, completely messed up.
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: You're just lightly guiding it. You know, extra pressure is
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: going to interfere with the way the sander is designed
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: to move, and it can cause the swirls that we're
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: trying to avoid. So light pressure. And here's another counterintuitive tip.
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: At least for me, it's counterintuitive. You've got to go slowly.
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: And I know that's a little bit vague, but here's
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: a good rule of thumb that I ran into that
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: really changed it for me. Move about one inch per second,
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: one inch per second. That's what you're trying to do.
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: Imagine taking roughly 12 seconds to move across a one
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: foot section. Now you don't have to be exact. You
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: don't need a timer for any of this. Just make
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: sure the sander gets time to work as it travels.
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: So don't lean on the sander. So there's tons of
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: pressure and don't zip it across the wood. Let it work.
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: You know, let it move its way slowly across the surface.
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: at about an inch per second and keep moving in
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: orderly overlapping passes. Finally, at least in terms of how
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: you move the sander across the surface, keep the sander flat.
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: And I am guilty of this almost all the time.
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: You know, I see a mark somewhere on the piece
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: and I'm trying to get at it. And if I'm
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: not getting it instantly, what I do is I tip
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: the sander a little bit so that one side of
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: the disc, you know, the front of the disc is
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: actually attacking that. My idea is that I'm concentrating all
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: of the pressure into a much smaller area. But the
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: problem is that I can easily, of course, dig a
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: hollow into the wood. I can round over an edge
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: that I want to crisp or I can leave a
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: new scratch that stands out when I stain. It's not
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: the right way to do it. You want to make
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: sure you keep the pad flat at all times. Don't
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: tilt it up. Keep it flat at all times. If
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: an area needs more work, give it more appropriate work.
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: And that might mean going back a grid, you know,
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: and sanding the whole section evenly. It might mean working
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: a detail by hand. It generally doesn't mean leaning the
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: sander over and drilling away at one spot. That's a
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: bad way to go. All right, so keep it flat.
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: Here's another rule of thumb that's useful. Start on, stop off.
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: It's basic, but I bet a number of us mess
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: this up often. At least I used to. I'm not
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: proud of what I'm going to explain because it makes
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: me sound so dumb. And maybe I am. I don't know.
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: I guess I can live with that. I should have
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: known better. I know that. But what I would do,
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: I had a lot of fun doing this. I like
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: to infuse fun into even the most mundane jobs. And
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: I found this to be incredibly fun. I would turn
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: the sander on and I would really let it get humming,
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: you know, really spinning. It's in the air. It's spinning.
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: I'm trying to hang on to it. My arm's shaking
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: because it's rotating so fast. It feels like I've got
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: the power of Thor in my hand. You know, that's
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: what I would do. And then finally, I'd get it
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: going fast enough and I'd bring it down on the surface.
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: And I was so excited because the minute it hits
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: that surface, whatever it is, pieces and chunks of that
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: old finish just go flying in all directions just for
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: a split second, but it's really fun, really exciting. So
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: I did that. And then when it was time to stop,
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: I would power the thing off and then I'd press
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: it down really hard on the surface to stop the disc.
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: And I know, like I said, when I say that,
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: there should be no surprise in anybody's mind, in my mind,
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: it should be no surprise that there were scratches in
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: the wood that I was working on. You know, no surprise.
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: I get it. And I am exaggerating a little bit
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: for fun, but Sadly, not as much as I wish
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: I was exaggerating. But you know what I'm saying, or
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: at least you can probably imagine it. Anyway, all of that,
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: of course, is wrong. Any version of that is wrong. Instead,
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: set the sander flat on the surface, and that's when
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: you turn it on. When it's on the surface already,
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: turn it on, keep it flat on the surface, turn
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: it on. When you're done, of course, lift it off
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: from the surface before you switch it off. Super simple,
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: but it helps you avoid bringing a freely spinning disc
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: down onto a surface at an angle where it might
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: grab or skip. and it also keeps you from stopping
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: the pad in one place on the wood and gouging it.
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: All right, with that said, some newer sanders, they do
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: have a pad break that makes an off-surface start less troublesome.
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: You check the instructions for your equipment, but for most
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: of us, start on, stop off, easy way to remember
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: how to place and lift the tool deliberately. Now, let's
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: talk about something that can undo good technique, and it's
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: what's under the disc. As you're sanding, you make dust, right?
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: The old finish may also clog the abrasive and an
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: occasional loose particle can get trapped between the disc and
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: the wood. And instead of making a consistent fine scratch pattern,
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: that particle may drag around and carve a more obvious mark.
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: And that's largely what all those swirls are that we see.
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: And this is one reason why dust collection matters so much,
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: you know, for the end results. It's not just for
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: keeping the workshop or whatever clean. It's for getting good
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: results on your, you know, the piece of wood that
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: you're sanding. So use your sander's collection system, you know,
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: your dust collection system, whatever it is. Make sure you're
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: using it to the best of its ability. Or, you know,
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: better yet, connect an appropriate vacuum, like a shop vac,
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: if you can. Most sanders will allow this. You know,
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: you can pop off that little bag that collects the dust,
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: and most of them have an attachment right there for
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: shop vacs. If you can do that, that's going to
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: be great. That's going to help a ton in so
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: many different ways. That will help a ton, but it
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: will really reduce dust. the scratches and the swirls that
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: you may be getting in the wood. And also one
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: other thing here, when you're changing grits, vacuum the wood
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: surface off. You want to make sure that you've got
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: all the dust and the particles off before you move
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: on to the next grit. All right. What about the
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: parts that a round sander can't reach? We all run
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: into that from time to time. Of course, don't try
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: to make it do those jobs. Either get a sanding
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: block and hand sand those areas or look for a
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: finishing sander. Finishing sanders have square or rectangular heads, and
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: they can handle corners and things like that more easily.
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: Be aware that those are out there. And if you're
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: talking like contoured pieces that you're trying to sand, trim
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: or something like that, something with a contour, don't count
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: on pretty much any electric or battery-powered sander to do
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: that work without some adjustment to it. A foam sanding
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: block is maybe your best friend in that situation. That's
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: going to shape itself and follow a curved edge much
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: more easily. But, you know, with that said, there are,
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: you know, a number of sanders out there that have
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: foam interface pads. You have to look them up if
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: you don't know what I'm talking about. But basically, you know,
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: a sander has this head that's a Velcro backer, and
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: then we can put our sanding disc on that. A
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: number of sanders, you can buy these foam pads that
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: are maybe half an inch thick. It's just a soft foam.
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: It's like a sanding pad. But it attaches to that Velcro,
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: you know, that deck on your sander. And then you
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: put your sanding pad on this foam piece. It holds
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: it in place. And now it can move around and
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: adjust to curves and contoured edges a little bit better.
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: So look into those foam interfaces if you, you know,
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: do a lot of sanding with contoured pieces. Look into that. Now,
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: following all of those things are really going to help
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: you get great results with an orbital sander. If you've
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: ever struggled, that will help you a ton. But for
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: a stained piece, if you've got something that you really
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: want the best look for, you really still can't beat
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: a light final hand sanding on the flat areas. Using
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: the final grit that you used on your orbital sander,
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: go at all the flat areas with the grain, just
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: do a nice hand sanding. The power sander's already done
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: the heavy lifting, done the heavy work. This is just
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: a chance to tidy up faint orbital marks and just
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: get that final perfect look on the piece. Now, last thing,
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: before you stain or paint anything, inspect what you've actually done.
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: You know, make sure that you're done. Make sure you've
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: done the work to the level that you want to do.
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: And a really, really easy way to do this is
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: to take a work light and put it down low
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: and shine it across the wood rather than straight at it.
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: You know, shine it across the wood and then walk
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: around the piece and change your viewing angle. A swirl
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: that you can't see, you know, under direct lighting, under
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: ceiling lights or something is is most likely going to
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: become obvious when light skims across the surface. Now, if
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: you find one, fix it now. It's way easier to
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: fix now than discovering it after you've put on stain, paint,
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: or varnish, or any of those things. And if you
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: do refinish furniture regularly, a professional machine is probably a
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: really worthwhile investment. You know, better dust collection, balance, lower vibration,
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: and a good abrasive system. All of those things can
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: make long sanding sessions way easier to manage, to tolerate,
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: to deal with. And that's where a brand like Festool
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: enters the conversation. It's not inexpensive, but if you do
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: this on a regular basis, it's going to pay for itself.
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: If you're interested in looking at that as an option,
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: RepcoLite's a Festool dealer. So just swing out to any
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: RepcoLite location, start the conversation. They don't all have the
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: tools on hand, but they can get you the info
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: that you need and at least start that conversation. All right,
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: random orbital sanders. I know that was a lot of info,
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: you know, a lot to take in. But these are
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: tools that get used all the time. I think for DIYers,
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: it's probably one of your top three or four go-to tools.
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: And knowing some of these tips that will help you
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: get great results, it's really going to pay off down
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: the road. If you need to revisit them or want
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: to check them out again, just head to repcolite.com and
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: click the Home in Progress tab right on the homepage,
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: the podcast tab on the homepage. You can find this
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: episode and it's all in the show notes. All right,
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: that's going to do it for this week. If you
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: want to catch this episode again, like I said, you
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: can find it online at repcolite.com. also find it wherever
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: you get your podcasts. Just search for Home in Progress
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: and you can subscribe and you'll never miss an episode.
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: And that's big stuff. You're going to be pretty excited
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: when Saturday's episode rolls out Thursday. two days early. You'll
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: know what I'm going to be talking about on the
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: radio two days ahead of everybody else if you subscribe
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: to the podcast. So Home in Progress, wherever you get
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: your podcasts, check it out. Whatever you do today, make
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: sure Paint's a part of it. Have a great weekend, everybody,
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: and I'll see you next week. For Home in Progress
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: by Repco Light Paints, I'm Dan Hanson. Thanks for listening.
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: Thank you.