Hot take: hand sanding beats random orbit sanders for raised panel doors

Been doing cabinets for about 7 years now. Started out using a 5 inch random orbit on everything including raised panels. Lately though I've been noticing the finish quality on my doors has gone up since I switched to hand sanding with a block on the profiles. I mean idk maybe it's just me but I feel like the orbit sander leaves those little swirls in the curved parts of the panel. My boss says I'm wasting time doing it by hand and it's not cost effective. What do you guys think? Anyone else make the switch or am I overthinking this?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_charles17d ago

Are your customers really staring at the doors from 2 inches away? Because nobody else is gonna notice.

the_pat17d ago

Yeah, that "2 inches away" part from @the_charles is exactly what gets me. I mean, who stands that close to a door unless they're inspecting it for a lawsuit or something? My uncle used to run a hardware store and he'd have guys come in complaining about a scratch you could only see if you held a flashlight at a certain angle. Makes you wonder if these complaints are really about quality or just people looking for a reason to be unhappy. What kind of stuff have you seen people nitpick that nobody else would ever spot?