Sanding By Hand

   Lets face it sanding can make or break a project.  Time and effort spent sanding makes for a smoother  finish and projects pleasant to the touch. Lets also face it, we woodworkers like our power sanders and hate hand sanding.  We hate hand sanding so much that we will add the expense of  hand planes to our investment in power sanders in the hope that it will  be saved from hand sanding.

  I consider myself an experienced, though not expert woodworker and I display all of the above characteristics. I have several orbital sanders, a couple of finishing sanders, two belt sanders and a power planer.  Plus a few hand planes, some of which are very fine tools. These tools have been acquired over many years, I love them and they've all seen heavy use at one time or another. 

  A few years ago I began wood carving, initially small things for Grand Children, then relief carving larger pieces. It is nearly impossible to sand carvings with power tools so I have gathered together a small collection of special hand sanding aids.

  These are hand sanders that use 3/8 inch wide sanding belts.  The sander body is spring loaded to maintain  tension on the sanding belt.  I have belts in 60, 120 and 180 grit. I bought them at a wood show booth featuring carving tools.  I have had these sanders for several years and use them often.

  When sanding a carving smooth there are many shapes and details.

  I wrap various grades of sand paper around these contours and have been able to sand nearly any shape  I can carve.  I have no idea where these rubber shapes came from.  I bought the set somewhere, sometime ago for I suppose a good price.  Beyond those few details I can't tell you anymore about them.  I use them frequently when finishing small projects and carvings.

  The next three sanding blocks are shop made:

Hook and loop fastener holding 5in. sanding disc.  I made this years ago.

Sanding block with inner tube covered face, made recently. The inner tube glues onto the wood

easily with Contact Cement.

And yes, a chalk board eraser with sand paper glued to the back

and used wrapped in sand paper for softening edges and convex edges.

  I know we hate hand sanding but I have a theory as to why.  Once I began hand sanding starting with 60 grit  and sometimes 40 grit paper the whole process moved forward more efficiently and quickly.  With a power sander we are tempted to begin at  120 grit, lean hard and tolerate the noise. If you begin with 120 grit when hand sanding it doesn't remove enough material fast enough and your arm falls off as your heart breaks. 

   Recently my solution is to load up an interesting Pod Cast and listen while sanding.  It is almost a zen like experience and amazing what  can be accomplished while listening to a scholar expostulate on the reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire or the cause of WWII.  My observation is that time, patience and the application of increasing finer grits of paper lead to a superior finish. ( and scholars love to argue amongst themselves about points of history that can't ever be proven).

  A personal observation regarding sand paper products.  Cheap sand paper is not good value...unless....you have to sand something that is oily, greasy  or covered in glue.  All sand paper  loads up quickly and becomes useless in those circumstances regardless of quality.  If you are trying to refinish a project that has an old style oil finish or has lived a hard life it may use up extra paper.   In that situation you may want to begin with card scrappers. Now that is another blog.

cheers, ianw