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Sanding blocks. This stable cork sanding block from Denmark (left) was the mannequin for my very own wooden and cork block (proper).

Efficient, low cost and easy to make.

This journal places quite a lot of emphasis available instruments – that’s, instruments with out motors. Common topics embrace handplanes, chisels, scrapers and many others. But relating to sanding, it appears that evidently most individuals use random-orbit sanders. These have motors! Why not sand by hand, additionally?

I like sanding by hand. Sure, I personal pad, belt and random-orbit sanders, however I hardly ever use them. On massive tasks, I’ll generally spend 10 or 15 minutes with a random-orbit sander to get a relaxation and relieve the boredom. But that’s it. I’m rapidly again to hand-sanding as a result of I discover it sooner. It’s additionally extra environment friendly as a result of I by no means get “squigglies,” that are so prevalent with random-orbit sanders. I additionally benefit from the cardio train.

The greatest draw back of hand-sanding is working up a sweat and dripping on the wooden. Drips could cause darker recognizing below a stain or end if the sweat-induced raised grain isn’t completely sanded out.

Alternatives

When hand-sanding a flat floor, you must all the time again your sandpaper with a flat block. Commercial sanding blocks, often constituted of laborious rubber or plastic, are extensively obtainable, however these blocks are very wasteful of sandpaper. You don’t use all of the grit.

Increasingly standard with woodworkers are rectangular sanding blocks with sandpaper on 4 sides round a tough core of froth. These aren’t wasteful of sandpaper, however they’re significantly costlier than sheets of sandpaper. So they’re wasteful of your cash.

Also, you might be extra restricted within the sandpaper varieties and grits from amongst which you’ll select than you might be with the big variety of varieties and grits in sheet kind.

So as a substitute of utilizing these wasteful and limiting merchandise, I make my very own sanding blocks from softwood with 18“-thick cork glued to the underside. I modeled this block after the stable cork blocks that everybody used after I labored in Denmark within the mid-1970s.

Sanding Block

Here’s how I make the sanding block.

I form a chunk of softwood (pine or fir) to 114” thick x 234” vast x 378” lengthy. You might alter these dimensions barely if wanted to comfortably slot in your hand. But take note the effectivity of those measurements relating to the usage of the sandpaper.

If you need just a little extra heft, you possibly can use a hardwood.

I then glue 18“-thick cork to 1 face utilizing PVA (white or yellow) glue, slicing the piece of cork barely bigger than the ultimate dimensions to permit for slippage. I’ve discovered cork sheets of this thickness at craft shops and auto-parts shops (bought as gasket cork).

Finally, I trim the surplus cork and chamfer the highest of the block so it matches extra comfortably in my hand.

There’s no want for a end, and one can be counterproductive anyway as a result of most finishes develop into gummy after prolonged contact with pores and skin and sweat.

Efficiency of Design

Folding & tearing. To create the correct dimension of sandpaper to be used with the sanding block, fold the sandpaper into thirds throughout the width, crimp the sting together with your thumb and index finger, then tear it. Finally, fold, crimp and tear the remaining two-thirds within the center.

Someone in Denmark will need to have put quite a lot of thought into the design of this sanding block as a result of it’s so environment friendly.

Take an ordinary 9″ x 11″ sheet of sandpaper and tear it in thirds crosswise. (You might reduce it with a knife or scissors, however you’ll rapidly uninteresting the device and it gained’t be sooner.)

Gripping sandpaper. To get most use of the sandpaper with the sanding block, fold a 3rd of the sandpaper sheet in half lengthwise and wrap it across the sanding block so there’s simply sufficient of the two-flap aspect to grip together with your fingers. When you could have worn that face of the sandpaper, flip it and use the other face.

Use all of it. After sporting each reverse faces of the sandpaper uninteresting, wrap the sandpaper across the sanding block and use the center face.

I don’t measure the thirds. I merely fold one aspect of the sandpaper to concerning the midpoint of the rest, then crimp the fold with my fingers. Then I fold the paper again on itself (breaking the stiffness) and tear it. Finally, I fold the remaining two-thirds in half and tear it once more.

Simple; Fast

Without sanding block. An added fantastic thing about this technique of utilizing sandpaper effectively is which you can simply convert backwards and forwards from sanding flat surfaces with the sanding block to sanding three-dimensional surfaces with out the block.

I then take one of many thirds, fold it in half lengthwise and wrap it across the cork aspect of the sanding block, holding it in place with my thumb and fingers. I exploit my fingers to carry the sting with the 2 flaps and my thumb to carry the sting with the fold. I wrap the paper so the sting with the 2 flaps rises up the aspect of the block simply sufficient for me to get a grip. This a part of the sandpaper would be the solely half that’s wasted, so I wish to reduce it.

Also, by maintaining this half minimal, sufficient of the folded aspect is left to present me three totally separate surfaces from one-third of a sheet, or 9 surfaces complete from one sheet of sandpaper.

When I’ve sanded with one of many surfaces till it turns into uninteresting or clogged, I flip the sandpaper and use the other aspect of the fold, holding the sandpaper in the identical method. When I’ve sanded that aspect uninteresting, I open the folded paper and wrap it across the block to make use of the center third, the third with the fold in it.

I can’t suppose how you possibly can make extra full use of a sheet of sandpaper.

When sanding surfaces clamped between bench canine on my workbench, I usually use each palms, putting one on prime of the opposite. Of course, there isn’t any right- or left-handedness to the block, so I may also use both hand individually.

I’ve a number of of those sanding blocks (simpler to seek out that approach) and I exploit them interchangeably for sanding wooden and sanding finishes, together with sanding as much as #600-grit or finer with moist/dry sandpaper and a lubricant. It’s straightforward to take away mud or sludge by knocking the block in opposition to the workbench or wiping with a material. You might, in fact, have separate blocks devoted to every kind of operation.

A additional benefit of this technique is that I can use the identical third-of-a-sheet of sandpaper to sand effectively and not using a block. I merely fold the third-of-a-sheet in thirds once more, and flip the outer faces to make use of a full 100 % of the sandpaper. By having grit in opposition to paper on one of many inside folds, somewhat than paper in opposition to paper, as happens whenever you fold sandpaper in half, the “pad” of sandpaper holds collectively higher and makes sanding a lot simpler. 

 


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