Call me lazy but i would much rather sit there and let the sander.
Sanding vs scraping floors.
But i don t really like the surface they leave behind when compared to a nice 180 grit sanding.
Unlike sanding which requires tackling the entire floor you can buff only small areas of your floor if needed.
You can avoid this dilemma by screening and re coating a procedure that refurbishes the old finish without.
These are capable of very fine cutting over a variety of grain directional changes characteristic of parquet floors producing a finer finish than sanding.
Sanding is fine if you re planning to paint over the surface anyway.
Sanding vs scraping article november 26 2008.
Scraping actually cuts the wood fibers leaving a sharper contrast of the grain in porous woods like oak and walnut.
Which method is better.
Sanding abrades the surface leaving scratches everywhere.
When floors were first laid cabinet scrapers left which have two handles and a tiny hook edge were the scraper of choice.
That s not to say you can t get a killer finish prep with a well tuned scraper its just not my preferred way of doing it.
When we sand hardwood floors with a belt sander we also have to use an edge sanding machine because a belt sanding machine can only get so close to the edges of the room.
As for results it depends on the final finish.
An edge sanding machine allows us to sand right up to the walls and get in small tight places like corners and closets.
On more even grained wood like maple the difference is a lot less noticeable provided the sanding was accomplished correctly.
In this instance the goal of sanding isn t to remove every last speck of.