Sanding Blocks


agab6601

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I know this is a very elementary thing, however I have fiddle farted around with this for a while and I was wanting to know if anyone has any good designs for sanding blocks? I have made a couple (poorly) enough to get by on the task at hand but that is usally as far as they go. I primarly sand when I have a refinishing project, I have used card scarpers normally if I am trying to build something (which I still need pratice honing the burr)but ultimitley I need to sand since the grain is raised and well it is just what need to be done. So any designs or thoughts on this would be great. I know I could just buy them but that's no fun!

-Andy

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i use belt sanding belts and use yellow glue and glue them to a piece of wood the same width as the belt i get about three 7" blocks out of one belt i put glue on a block add the belt glue another block add the belt put the belt faces together and clamp they last a very long time. i also have peal and stick rolls of sand paper and i just stick that to a block if i want a lower grit. my belt blocks are 80 grit and 100 grit.

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Take a look at the William Ng scraper sharpening video. At ~2:00 he pulls a sanding block off the wall... It looks like it's just a block of wood with a dado cut along one side. Both ends of the sandpaper fit in the dado then a 1/4" strip is placed in the dado to hold the sandpaper down. Looks like a nice simple design. I'm planning building a handful myself.

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  • 1 month later...

Take a look at the William Ng scraper sharpening video. At ~2:00 he pulls a sanding block off the wall... It looks like it's just a block of wood with a dado cut along one side. Both ends of the sandpaper fit in the dado then a 1/4" strip is placed in the dado to hold the sandpaper down. Looks like a nice simple design. I'm planning building a handful myself.

Was going to make some myself.

Do you think the strip in the dado is tapered?

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  • 2 weeks later...

I don't use anything fancy just a block of scrap MDF cut to 4.5" and use pressure sensitive adhesive backed sand paper and I am good to go. PSA paper is also very handy to make small custom sanding blocks for getting into tight areas. I don't know how I lived with out it.

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  • 2 months later...

Take a look at the William Ng scraper sharpening video. At ~2:00 he pulls a sanding block off the wall... It looks like it's just a block of wood with a dado cut along one side. Both ends of the sandpaper fit in the dado then a 1/4" strip is placed in the dado to hold the sandpaper down. Looks like a nice simple design. I'm planning building a handful myself.

I finally ened up making some of these tonight and wrote up a quick blog post about them. Here's some pictures of the process.

IMG_1078.JPG

IMG_1079.JPG

IMG_1080.JPG

IMG_1081.JPG

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  • 4 weeks later...

I finally ened up making some of these tonight and wrote up a quick blog post about them. Here's some pictures of the process.

I made the same ones as konkers. (Thanks konkers for the insight on dimensions) The only difference is my dado is a little shorter. I think i only went a half inch. Mostly because i forgot what konkers did by the time i was in the shop. :) After i made mine i went back and checked out he video again and noticed William Ng's strip has a curve along the bottom edge and also extends past the edge of the block. I'm guessing the curve helps eliminate a little friction with the paper in the dado. I noticed on the coarser grit that there is a lot of friction in there and in one case i couldn't push the strip all the way to the bottom of the dado. Not really a big deal though. I think extending the strip past the block may be a good idea to be able to remove it easier but again flush with the block doesn't seem to be a problem either. Next time i might try the curve and extending the strip... I made a quick blog post on this as well.

Another thing i didn't notice initially is that one of the guys in the class takes a picture of it. He must have had the same thought as us.

Sanding+Block.png

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Take a look at the William Ng scraper sharpening video. At ~2:00 he pulls a sanding block off the wall... It looks like it's just a block of wood with a dado cut along one side. Both ends of the sandpaper fit in the dado then a 1/4" strip is placed in the dado to hold the sandpaper down. Looks like a nice simple design. I'm planning building a handful myself.

I've used these at his school. They are faced with cork. Also, the hold in strip is slightly tapered. I too have thought of building a bunch. Haven't gotten around to it.

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I've used these at his school. They are faced with cork. Also, the hold in strip is slightly tapered. I too have thought of building a bunch. Haven't gotten around to it.

Thanks for the insight SDWoodworker. I ended up adding some cork to mine based on your insight. I found a 1/25" cork roll from hobby lobby. It had adhesive on it and i was easily able to add it to my sanding blocks. It definitely helps soften things up a bit. Here is my blog post about it with some additional pictures.

IMG_2295.JPG

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Thanks for the insight SDWoodworker. I ended up adding some cork to mine based on your insight. I found a 1/25" cork roll from hobby lobby. It had adhesive on it and i was easily able to add it to my sanding blocks. It definitely helps soften things up a bit. Here is my blog post about it with some additional pictures.

Sweet. Maybe I'll hit up the hobby store on the way home. I'll probably only apply to one of the faces so that one can be kept for sanding surfaces flat.

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I just finished making a bunch (maybe a dozen or so). My hold in stick is tapered. I tilted the saw blade 3 degrees on one cut. I also added the rounded end like William had. Picked up the same cork roll (but from Michael's) which is peel and stick. Thanks for the inspiration to do what I have wanted to do for some time but never got off by butt to do it.

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Wow, SDW, you outdid me. I only made 4 last night real quick. A couple of changes I made. I already have a purchased block. I wanted to be able to rip the sandpaper to the same dimension for both the purchased block and these new ones. That made the length shorter, closer to almost square @ 3-1/2". I also used an old mouse pad instead of cork. I cut the mouse pad to fit, flipped it over and used spray adhesive to adhere it to the block.

I like having these ready to go when I need a different grit.

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I buy the 2 1/2" roll's of PSA 80 up to 180 grit. Simply stick to any size scrap piece of wood. Makes for great custom sanding blocks/sticks. Can even stick some 80 grit on the top portion of a long thin stick...makes for a nice file. :D

The cork added to a block of wood is the way to go for wet or dry sanding topcoats. A good idea is to round the bottom edges of your sanding block, just a bit. So when you come to an edge, your not rounding them over or goofing up a profile. Especially important when block sanding a finish.

That's just my opinion, I'm sure there are others.

-Ace-

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