Virginia Abrasives

Virginia Abrasives edger discs and floor-sanding paper go on your floor sander and edger when a hardwood floor goes back to bare wood, and the company’s diamond blades cut concrete. It’s built for rental sanders and flooring crews. The rental paper is made to fit rental machines from the most popular manufacturers.

Virginia Abrasives Corporation, often called VAC, makes abrasives and supplies rental equipment from Petersburg, Virginia. It started in the early 1970s when a hard-rock garnet mining business in New York’s Adirondack Mountains invested in making sandpaper, and its sandpaper has been made in Petersburg since 1971. The investment firm Brookstone Partners owns it. It’s known for floor-sanding abrasives for the equipment rental and professional flooring trades.

Edger discs: pick the grit by the floor

Edger discs sand the strip along the walls and into the corners that the drum or belt sander can’t reach. The 7 in. edger discs come in 20, 36, 60, 80 and 100 grit. Use 20 or 36 on an older floor with deep scratches, and 60 on a floor that only needs refinishing or a stain color change. Start with the finest grit that will still get the first pass done, since every coarse pass leaves scratches you have to sand back out.

Run the edger through the same grits as the drum sander, in the same order, and never skip more than one grit: 20, then 36, then 60, finishing at 80 or 100. On a painted or mastic-covered floor, paper that stops cutting is clogged, so change it then; stretching loaded paper means sanding that strip twice. Let the edger’s weight do the work, because pushing down on it leaves swirl marks and wears the machine.

Matching the disc to your edger

Every Virginia Abrasives disc lists its grits and the machines it fits. The EZ Edger hook-and-loop discs are made for the E-Z Edger, and the Premium Pro 6 in. hook-and-loop discs fit Elan, U-Sand and Lägler edgers. Both lines need a conversion disc attached to the bottom of the edger. After that, the paper pulls off and presses on with no wrench. Buy the conversion disc with your first box of hook-and-loop paper, or the paper has nothing to grip.

Rental grade or pro grade paper

Virginia Abrasives makes coated abrasives in two grades. The rental grade is built for rental sanders, and the pro flooring grade is made to last longer, because a floor crew runs paper all day. For floors covered in adhesive or other gunk that clogs regular paper, the QuickSand line is built to resist clogging and to change fast. The 12 in. x 18 in. orbital floor sanding sheets, in 20, 36, 60 and 100 grit, go on an orbital floor sander with their own driving pad. If you sand floors full time, buy the pro grade.

14 in. diamond blades for concrete

Virginia Abrasives diamond blades cut concrete, asphalt, brick, masonry and stone. The 14 in. concrete blade and the 14 in. segmented dry/wet cut diamond blade both go on a 14 in. cut-off saw. Cut wet whenever you can, since water holds down silica dust and keeps the segments cool. On a dry cut, pull the blade out of the kerf every few inches and let it spin free to cool.

Grinding, coring and finishing

Virginia Abrasives also makes grinder tooling (cups, grinding heads and scrapers) that fits its own grinders plus EDCO, Lavina and Husqvarna Redi Lock machines. For coring concrete there’s the Variable Speed Core Drill, which runs hand-held or on a stand and has an automatic clutch and a garden hose quick-connect for wet coring. The company also makes 15 in. to 20 in. mesh screen discs for screening between finish coats, which gives the finish a glassy sheen, and floor refinishing pads for stripping, buffing and polishing.

Line	Used for	Grits and specs
EZ Edger hook-and-loop discs	Edge sanding wood and hardwood	20, 36, 60, 80, 100 and 120 grit; aluminum oxide; 50 per package
7 in. E-Z Edger Conversion Disc Adapter	Mounting hook-and-loop discs on the E-Z Edger	Part 003-27820
Premium Pro 6 in. hook-and-loop discs	Edge sanding hardwood	20, 36, 50, 60, 80 and 100 grit
Premium Pro 8 in. hook-and-loop discs	Hook-and-loop floor sanding	36, 50, 60, 80 and 100 grit; silicon carbide
Variable Speed Core Drill, model VSCD-1	Coring concrete	Bits to 3 in. hand-held, 6 in. on the optional stand; 120V; 2000W; 0-1950 RPM; 14.33 lb; 1-year limited warranty

Frequently Asked Questions

What sizes do Virginia Abrasives sanding discs come in?

The floor sanding discs run from 5 in. up to 20 in., for everything from edgers to big rotary floor machines. The large-diameter Sharp-Kut discs have abrasive on both sides, so when one side dulls you flip it and keep sanding. That gets more floor out of every disc you open.

Can Virginia Abrasives sanding discs be used on anything besides wood floors?

Yes. Their aluminum oxide discs with a pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) back work on wood, plastic, metal and drywall, and other discs in the line take adhesive off concrete, granite, marble, terrazzo and stone. A PSA disc sticks to a smooth pad and usually won’t go back on once you peel it off, so leave it on the pad until it’s worn out.