![\"IMG_0528_edited-2\"](\"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/IMG_0528_edited-2.jpg\")
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Sanding blocks with a curved face<\/strong> can be very effective for smoothing and, with coarse grits in the right circumstances, even shaping curved surfaces<\/a> in furniture making. I use spokeshaves, specialty planes, rasps, and scrapers to shape and smooth curved surfaces<\/a>, but not to the exclusion of the humble sanding block.<\/p>\n They can be made quickly and easily<\/strong> with the bandsaw or bowsaw. For working concave surfaces,<\/strong> the curve of the block should be slightly steeper<\/strong> than the steepest part of the curve of the work piece. For convex work, a flat block is adequate for working shallow curves. For working steeper convex curves, the block’s curve should be slightly shallower than that of the work.<\/p>\n The top of the block should be shaped friendly to the hand<\/strong> using saws and rasps. I like to steeply cut down the corner of the block near the base of my right thumb, as well as the diagonally opposite corner.<\/p>\n The backing surface for the sandpaper<\/strong> should be have some type of firm cushioning<\/strong>, similar to a random orbit sander. For most broad surfaces, I like the high-friction cushion material<\/strong> available in with a pressure-sensitive adhesive backing from Lee Valley<\/a>. PSA-backed 1\/16″-thick sheet cork<\/a> is firmer<\/strong> and thus good for narrower, smaller scale, or more detailed work.<\/p>\n Cutting regular sandpaper sheets and wrapping them around these sanding blocks is particularly annoying because of the curved surface. I much prefer using PSA-backed sandpaper that comes in large rolls<\/strong>, such as that available from Klingspor<\/a>. It is quick, effective, and wastes less sandpaper, especially if the block is made to the width of the sandpaper roll. It is also reduces hand fatigue<\/strong> because there is no need to grip the paper to the block.<\/p>\n A gum rubber block<\/strong> is usually associated with cleaning retained sanding dust from the sandpaper on power sanders, but it also works quite well on these sanding blocks, especially when doing heavy work.<\/p>\n As with any sanding, it is important to remember that only the coarsest grit<\/strong> – the first one in the sequence – should do <\/strong>any required shaping.<\/strong> (Though most or all of the shaping will have already been done with other tools.) All the subsequent grits simply remove the scratches<\/strong> made by the previous grit until the surface is smoothed to your satisfaction.<\/p>\n In time, one accumulates a small collection<\/strong> of these curved sanding blocks, so some will coincidentally be just right for future projects.<\/strong> This is simple, effective woodworking – one more tool for working with curves.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sanding blocks with a curved face can be very effective for smoothing and, with coarse grits in the right circumstances, even shaping curved surfaces in furniture making. I use spokeshaves, specialty planes, rasps, and scrapers to shape and smooth curved surfaces, but not to the exclusion of the humble sanding block. They can be made quickly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[46],"class_list":["post-2497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-techniques","tag-curves"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2497"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2497\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6771,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2497\/revisions\/6771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"IMG_0525_edited-2\"](\"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/IMG_0525_edited-2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"IMG_0527_edited-2\"](\"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/IMG_0527_edited-2.jpg\")
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