RE: WoodSmith Tip

[Lew Hodgett]

Use Sanding blocks?

Might like this one.

Lew

[none]

On Thu, 14 Aug 2014 15:54:55 -0700, "Lew Hodgett"

Nice one!

[Larry Blanchard]

Nice, but I've got 2 of this one:

and it's the best I've ever used.

BTW, Rockler, Lee Valley, and Amazon also carry it, but they're all a little higher in price.

[Morgans]

"Larry Blanchard" wrote

And I have several, with each one having its own differing grit paper on it. For almost free.

Take a piece of wood, and rip it the width of your favorite belt sander. Make it thinner, to 1/2" or leave it 3/4" Your choice. Cut the block the length that the sandpaper will just fit on, after you round over the nose of each end, or leave one end pretty square for getting into inside corners. Slip your new or lightly used belts onto the block, then slip a 1/2" or 3/4" block between the paper and the block, cut about a third of the length of the block, to tighten up the belt and act as more of a handle.

When part of the paper gets loaded up or worn out, take out the tightening block and rotate the belt around and you have a newly loaded block.

Works great. Almost free. I like almost free, and I get a second use from belts.

[Leon]

I simply use PSA sand paper wrapped around a block of wood. No lamps needed.

[nailshooter41]

Then how do you see what you are doing?

Just kidding...

Robert

[Leon]

LOL..... I guess I could mount LED's on the pad.. ;~)

[Bill Leonhardt]

I got one as a gift that looks like this:

Works really, really well and, since I have a 3" X 21" belt sander, I generally have lots of grits on hand.

Bill

[Sonny]

As Jim, in N.C. says, making your own is easy enough. I've made a number o f them to sand the various curved pieces (especially rockers), I've made ov er the years. I like using a 2X4 (11.5" long) for my beltsander belt.... m y hand fits a full 2X4, better than a 1" thick board does.

Speaking of another sander, my PC orbital sander's foam pad has deteriorat ed and fallen apart. I removed the decay and installed a felt pad. The f elt pad is the same as the felt caster material, used on the bottom of furn iture feet/legs. The large rectangle felt pad was trimmed to fit the sand er's disc and, with the sticky back, attached to the disc nice & firm. I used (my upholstery) foam spray adhesive to attach the rubber sheet (that t he sandpaper adheres to) to the felt. I think felt should work fine, as a replacement pad. The pad's replacement cost range from $15 to $25, plus s hipping, on Amazon. The felt costs about $5 for a 2 rectangle pack, at Wal mart.

Sonny

[-MIKE-]

Now THAT is cool! That's the first manufactured sanding block that makes sense. No cutting sheets to size, no folding the paper and tucking into tiny little slots. No *not* getting the paper tight enough in those little slots. No 3 hands needed to instal paper.

I just bookmarked that summbich and I'll be ordering one soon.

[Leon]

Might want to look here too.

[-MIKE-]

I don't have much need for smaller ones, since I've become very adept at holding paper onto small wooden blocks for detail sanding.

What I can't to very well is hold larger sheets onto a block, which is what that 21" belt one does so well.

I like both of those, however. The local Woodcraft keeps those little Festools at the counter and jokingly refers to them as the only affordable Festool. :-)

[Leon]

Yeah! LOL

As I have mentioned in another post, I have a roll of PSA paper approximately 4.5" wide by several yards. I tear off a piece and stick it to the a wood block I have laying around. CHEAP!