{"id":4320,"date":"2016-09-10T01:43:47","date_gmt":"2016-09-10T05:43:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/?p=4320"},"modified":"2016-09-10T01:45:51","modified_gmt":"2016-09-10T05:45:51","slug":"sanding-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/10\/sanding-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Sanding, part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is just about all of the hand sanding gear<\/strong> I use in my shop.\u00a0I present this in the hope that you will find a useful tip or two.<\/p>\n

\"sanding<\/p>\n

A cork block<\/strong>, 1″ x 2″ x 3 7\/8″, is the best tool I have found for hand sanding. It has just the right compressibility and resilience to produce a consistent and true sanded surface, and it feels comfortable in the hand. A piece of cork glued to a wooden block is a decent substitute but not as good. Almost all of the area of one-third of a standard 9″ x 11″ sandpaper sheet can be utilized by re-wrapping it just once.<\/p>\n

The Norton pad<\/strong> gets less use but is handy for fine sanding large areas. It uses the same one-third sheet with little waste.<\/p>\n

\"curved<\/p>\n

Convex and concave rubber sanding grips<\/strong> are handy, though I more often use ad hoc blocks<\/strong> made from combinations of wood, cork or rubber sheet, and pink foam insulation. Some of these are worth preserving but some live for only a single fleeting employment.<\/p>\n

\"sandpaper<\/p>\n

The sheet cutter<\/strong> makes it almost fun to size sandpaper. A hacksaw blade is screwed to a piece of plywood with enough slack to permit the sheet to easily fit under. A piece of thin plywood is glued to the blade to make it easy to press the blade firmly onto the back of the paper prior to tearing it. A slat is placed in one of the table-sawn kerfs that have been placed to yield the desired sizes of paper.\u00a0By far most common are one-third sheets made by cutting across the narrow width of the full sheet to yield strips about 3 2\/3″ wide.<\/p>\n

\"sandpaper<\/p>\n

This little plastic bucket<\/strong> screwed to the wall is a good place to store partially used strips. Contrary to comments by some shop visitors, it is neither a garbage can nor a urinal.<\/p>\n

\"Norton<\/p>\n

I’ve used Norton 3X<\/strong> paper for years with excellent results. Norton has superseded it with ProSand<\/strong>, which they claim has more durable abrasive and backing paper, so I will gradually restock with that.<\/p>\n

\"PSA<\/p>\n

Once you get these 2 1\/2″-wide, PSA-backed (sticky) rolls<\/strong>\u00a0in the shop, all sorts of uses arise. They are great to quickly make impromptu sanding blocks and tools, such as those below. I also reload the Veritas shooting sander<\/a> with them.<\/p>\n

\"sanding<\/p>\n

These little shop-made sanding sticks<\/strong> solve vexing detail issues in almost every piece I make. Apply an oversized piece of PSA sandpaper to the squared end of a wooden tongue depressor, and then trim the excess with a utility knife. Of course, as needed, you can also create a V-point or other shape on the end. You’ll wonder how you ever managed without them.<\/p>\n

\"sanding<\/p>\n

From left to right in the photo above:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The silicon carbide “wet-dry” paper<\/strong> is there for sanding between coats and sometimes for wet sanding of oil-varnish. I have 600, 1000, 1500, and 2000 in stock but rarely use the finer grits.<\/p>\n

3M Ultra Flexible Sanding Sheets<\/strong>, available in 100, 150, 220, and 320 grits, really live up to their name. The grit stays on and the backing does not crease or tear. These are a far better option for contour work than sanding sponges, which I have always found to be useless. You can back up these sheets with whatever you want \u2013 contoured rubber or foam, a sponge, or just your hand.<\/p>\n

3M has also recently introduced Sandblaster Pro sheets<\/strong> with a grippy back. So far, I have not found an advantage from them for woodworking but they are very handy to flatten tools when simply placed on a granite surface plate. They stay put without spray adhesive or water.<\/p>\n

I use the MicroMesh<\/strong> set of 3″ x 6″ sheets for tool and hardware alterations, not on wood. The grit ranges from 1500 to 12,000! The sheets are cushioned and thus not a good choice for sharpening.<\/p>\n

Next:<\/strong> power sanding gear.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is just about all of the hand sanding gear I use in my shop.\u00a0I present this in the hope that you will find a useful tip or two. A cork block, 1″ x 2″ x 3 7\/8″, is the best tool I have found for hand sanding. It has just the right compressibility and […]<\/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":[35],"class_list":["post-4320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-techniques","tag-sanding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4320","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=4320"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4320\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4356,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4320\/revisions\/4356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}