Thread: Handsanding howto

Originally Posted by Bruno

Power tools can increase your speed, but the time intensive part -> 120 is where a power tool could do a lot of damage before you even know what happened.

Amen! I've only done it once but at the end of a few hours of buffing / polishing and then watching the dremel kick and chip the edge was enough to put me in a sour mood for a day or so...

Hopefully this may help.

The process I see is a contoured sanding job. My concern is in flattening or altering the curved surface of the blade and uneven sanding. What some woodworkers do to sand curves is create a mold from the item being sanded using bondo or some other automotive filler.

To do this you:
coat the item with a release agent (for Bondo I would use polyvinyl alchohol)

fill the concave surface with bondo until level and above anything you wish to sand

let dry

remove bondo

hot glue new bondo mold to flat item (wood block)

glue/wrap sandpaper to/around custom mold.


With such a mold you could leave the mold in place and move the blade back and forth over it.


If one were feeling creative and wanted to reduce the time factor I suggest creating a jig to replicate the reciprocal motion of your hand rubbing the two objects. The cheapest way I can think of is to use an existing motor which has a back and forth motion (a variable speed jigsaw comes to mind). I'd create a blade rest (setting on a workbench) and the bondo contour sander I'd mentioned. I'd attach the bondo sander to the jig saw (perhaps by gluing the wood on the sander to a jigsaw blade). Then I'd create a jig to hold the jigsaw in place (tool bottom perpendicular to the bench top), custom sander tip aligned with the blade face on the blade rest. I'd set the motor to the slowest setting to avoid heat build up. The rest is a matter of pressing the button on the jigsaw and timing it.

This is about the simplest thing I have found to help sanding, yet has helped tremendously:

http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=5237

They are basically what Bruno uses, but much smaller (still fit the fingers great! Comfortable), quicker, easier, and they give more options. I have one set of these things and I cannot find a shape that I don't have one of these for. Really, check them out. I have a Woodcraft by me, so I just went there...

Those things look very useful indeed. I think I am going to have to give them a try.

My O my this thread is chock full of great info. I'll be trying out the contour pads...If not the bondo seems very doable. The bondo mold would be reproduceable for many a razor of the same hollow.
Aaaah it's great to eavesdrop on these conversations as I make my way thru the den to the hot tub...
Scuse me ....comin thru....

Thank you Bruno

I have to try that, se it I can get some work done on the blade .......not just talking and thinking.......

I just found out there's a Woodcraft store in town. Going to have to go down there and pick up some of those sanding pads Alex pointed out.

are you using dry papers or wet? from the look of that it looks like dry, just wonderin cuz im about to try to clean up a blade, first timer

Thanks for the useful info in these posts guys. I was wondering, is it complete overkill to continue on with the micro-mesh pads after the 2k paper? Is there anything to be gained by continuing up the progression to say an 8k micro-mesh pad? I've always just stopped at 1.2k as this is the highest grit I can get physically from my local shops. But there's a guy on Australian ebay selling micro-mesh pads from 2k up to 8k - worth it, or just a waste of time?

James.

Originally Posted by ctufano

are you using dry papers or wet? from the look of that it looks like dry, just wonderin cuz im about to try to clean up a blade, first timer

It goes quicker and works better using the sandpaper wet. Make sure it is wet/dry/waterproof paper in the first place though.