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Type of sander and paper for pine stair treads

Q: What is the best type of sander and what are the best grades of paper to use to sand pine stair treads before refinishing? How can I get right to the edges of the treads? Would a detail sander be useful for the last stage?

A: It really depends what is on the pine treads. Is it paint? Use stripper. Then a hand scraper and half sheet orbital sander. A professional edger sander is really intended for professional use in spite of the fact they can be rented by the DIY person.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 23rd, 2006 at 7:21 pm and is filed under Equipment Issues, Stairs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

One Response to “Type of sander and paper for pine stair treads”

  1. webmaster Says:
    May 24th, 2006 at 7:45 pm

    Follow-up Q: The stairs are varnished, I presume with polyurethane. Will the orbital sander remove that? There are only 4 stairs.

    A: The orbital should be able to handle 4 stairs, working from coarse grit to fine. A hand scraper and file to sharpen the blade is a big help too.