2Sand.com Where Price Meets Value!

I am always on the lookout for quality products at a low price. Since I started turning I have been looking for power sanding accessories that are a better value than what is available through Woodcraft. After quite a bit of searching and comparing I finally decided to give 2Sand.com a shot. After my 1st test drive of their Blue Micron Bowl Sanding Discs I am really impressed!

Price

When comparing price to Woodcraft there is not comparison. A 5 disc pack Hook & Loop discs from Woodcraft run $3.99 each & the mandrels are $10.99 each. In comparison The Blue Micron Discs come in Packs of 25 for $4.43! Now I am not mathematician but by my calculations that makes the 2Sand.com discs WAY cheaper! The mandrels are $5.92 each which is also WAY cheaper than anything else I have found anywhere. The cheapest disc holder I have found elsewhere was $8.95 each. Oh and 2 days shipping was also super cheap!

First Impressions

Upon opening the box I found that each 25 pack was clearly labeled and in a ziplock pouch. The discs measure 3 3/8” and are straight round unlike the competitors “Wave” products, as I will explain below this is the only small drawback of their products. The disc holders are the exact same ones as offered at Woodcraft and Woodturners catalog. I bought a half dozen of them because I can sand pretty aggressively at times and that tends to shortent he lives of the disc holders.

Review of Use

I just couldn’t wait to try them out after getting the package in the mail. I turned a bowl and left it a little thick so I wouldn’t end up with a Hole in my Bowl from my tool rest moving.

I started with 80 grit using a snub nosed power drill and went to work. I had to get pretty aggressive as my tool rest had slipped during my last cut and there was a large swirl groove. To get everything smooth and even I did some heavy power sanding using 80 & 100 grit. You can see from the picture what this aggresive sanding did to the discs. Now I don’t normally sand with such a heavy hand but in my experience the “Gold Wave Discs” have held up much better than these blue round discs did. As can be seen in the pictures I destroyed 2 discs of each grit. After smoothing the bowl out I then proceeded through the grits as follows 120, 150, 180, 220, 320, 400, 600, 800. I usually only sand through 320 but I wanted to see what it was like to get a really fine sanding on a bowl. Ended up not being much of a difference as far as I could tell. For the amount I sanded they showed acceptable wear.

Conclusion

I am extremely impressed with the 2Sand.com products. While they did not hold up quite as well as the “Gold Wave Discs” they did a good job sanding some nice spalted quilted Maple that is heavily prone to tear out. The finished bowl was as smooth and swirl free as I have ever experienced. Considering how much lower the cost of the 2Sand.com discs are I am not too worried about them wearing out a bit sooner. I may get twice as much use out of the other discs but I can get 5 times as many 2Sand.com discs for the same price! I would highly recommend the 2Sand.com Bowl sanding products to anyone who does any turning and wants to do some power sanding. They are truly an amazing value for such a high quality product!

Chris

-- I wouldn't be so arrogant if you weren't such a moron!