Home Made Sanding Blocks

[Osmosis]

 

Well, I am about to start fairing my first POF ship and realized I had no proper sanding blocks.

 

So off to the local Home Depot for a look around. I quickly realized that they had for off the shelf sanding blocks was not going to work. As my wife and friends have told me over the years "my brain has no off switch" so I started looking around for materials to make my own.

 

I did not want to spend a lot of money or time so I went looking for lumber that was the right size to begin with. I was in the paint department looking for adhesive backed sandpaper when I thought of those stir sticks they give you. Perfect. Only now you have to buy them $.98 for a pack of 10 and right with them were packs of 30 over sized tongue depressors for the same price. Plus one 12"x18" sheet of adhesive backed sandpaper came to about $8.00.

 

By the time I got home I had a rough plan anyway. I was only going to need a couple of each so I had plenty for several attempts. The only tools I would need would be my Exacto razor saw and miter box, needle files, a square, a ruler and a few clamps.

One of the tongue depressors after soaking in hot water for about 15 minutes and then getting wrapped around a piece of 1/2" PVC pipe.

While that was drying I laminated the other 2 together and set them aside to dry.

While I cut up the 2 stir sticks.

The first pieces clamped up and set aside to dry.

Back to the tongue depressors. The ends were cut off approximately the same length as the width of the TD and the ends of the remaining piece mitered.

I think you can see where this is going.

 

Glued up and set aside to dry back to the other one. I cut the 2 squares in half and glued them in on both ends.

And here they are after a little trimming and sanding.

 

Not bad for less than $8.00 and a couple hours work. I think the flat one will be fine but I am not so sure about the rounded one. I think I should have laminated 2 together for the rounded part as well. We will find out how they work after a couple of coats of oil based poly to toughen them up a little.

 

Best Regards

Edited March 21, 2018 by Osmosis

[mtaylor]

Great idea and follow up.  The rounded one would work inside the hull....  which is a very fiddly thing to sand.

[DenPink]

What a good idea, can I use this for my self, dont wish to steal the idea off you.

 

Denis.

[Bob Blarney]

That's a great idea to make blocks for particular needs.  In a recent thread, I posted some info about using contact cement to glue 3M Ultra-flexible abrasive film to wood.  

 

[Osmosis]

Thanks to everyone for all the likes and replies.

 

I applied three coats of oil based poly. I hope this will make it a little easier to peel off and replace the sand paper. Here they are with some 80 grit self sticking sand paper applied.

 

The holes in the handles were drilled so I had a way to hang them while the poly dried.

I have already started using them on my current build and thy work great.

 

Best regards

Edited March 24, 2018 by Osmosis

[Landlubber Mike]

Those look great.  I've just been taking balsa blocks, and using rubber cement to attach sandpaper to them.  Yours put mine to shame

[Osmosis]

Thanks Mike. If they hold up for any length of time I think it will have been worth the little bit of time it took to make them. And the curved one work great on the concave sections of the bulkheads.

[michael mott]

Nice solutions Art, when using papers that are not self adhesive, I find that double sided carpet tape works well.

 

Michael

[druxey]

I use rubber cement for my sanding blocks. Use it like contact cement. However, the sandpaper is more easily peeled off for replacement.

[Dan Vadas]

I use Contact Cement, and remove the worn-out sandpaper with a Heat Gun. The paper peels off after a couple of seconds of heat.

 

CAUTION - the heat would probably also destroy your fabricated sanding sticks, unless you used Epoxy to glue the handles on.

 

Danny

[cristikc]

Hi to all, nice work and i will take some ideas from you.

I use ice stick for sanding, long ago, but just the "flat" stick, so i will add your idea. This is how i made mine

Cristi

Edited April 10, 2018 by cristikc

[pwallace2]

On 3/24/2018 at 6:21 AM, Osmosis said:

"I applied three coats of oil based poly. I hope this will make it a little easier to peel off and replace the sand paper. Here they are with some 80 grit self sticking sand paper applied."

I am a big fan of "Parks Super glaze finish" as a cheap source of epoxy.   Do you thing that the oil poly stiffened the wood? 

[Osmosis]

I don't know if it stiffened it but it created a nice smooth surface that I think makes it easier to peel off the self adhesive paper.