Sanding grooved decking

[ben lee]

Im looking to lightly sand my oiled garden decking, and apply a stain or varnish. (not sure which is best tbh)
Are there any specific sanders on the market for grooved deecking boards, or is it going to be hands and knees and a load of sand paper.
Cheers
Ben
p.s if anyone knows of any good decking treatments in a naturalish colour, let me know.

 

[Scrit]

You can get brush-backed heads such as the Engis head, although they are really designed to work on static machines. B&D used to sell a small portable brush-backed sander some 20 odd years ago, but they're long out of production, do now the only portable machine I know of is the Makita Wheel Brush Sander. I've seen these at hire places, but never seen one for sale. You have to be very careful when using them that you oversand. Possibly an alternative is the narrow Scotchbrite abrasive wheels on arbors sold by some ironmongers.

Scrit

 

[ben lee]

cheers scrit, i was worried about oversanding, so i was thinking is there more of a shaped sanding block available possibly that could be attached to a brush handle!
Maybe i found a niche in the market
Cheers again
Ben

 

[Scrit]

.......so i was thinking is there more of a shaped sanding block available

If your grooves are about 4mm wide then sandpaper can be wrapped around the edge of a piece of 3mm hardboard/plywood, if they are wider MDF comes in 4, 6, 9.5, 12, 18mm and can always be reduced in size by the judicious application of either a power planer, or a ruddy great belt sander. As to slower ways of doing this (not too good for larger areas) there are other tools like the Fein Multimaster and Porter-Cable 9444VS Profile Sander as well, although from experience (I own both) they'd drive me mad doing anything as large as a deck

Maybe i found a niche in the market

I somehow doubt it......

Scrit