Thread: Handsanding howto

Nice howto, thanks for putting this back up

Nice info to read, I have learned a lot on sanding my blade.

Can you tell me about edge placement during the sanding process.

Do I have to protect the edge or just try to keep it flat on lets say a thick peice of leather??

Jacques

Thanks for the great tutorial Bruno.I was lucky enough to have read the original and have been putting it to great use.

I have a norton sized stone that I cut from a litography stone, which is lime I think.
It is flat, and it has the nice property that you can hit it with an edge withot damaging or blunting that edge.

Anyway, if you keep the blade flat on the stone, then there is no problem.
If you try to protect it with tape, then there is a part which you can't sand.

It should be obvious that you don't hone a blade until after the sanding and the polishing.
If an edge is a bit nicked, then there is even a chance that the nicks will be partially gone afterwards, because when you sand from edge to spine and back, you will sand the very edge as well.

Btw a VERY important additional tip: when you are done sanding for the night, rub the blade with rubbing alcohol to get rid of grease and dirt.
If you don't, then you might get a very nasty discovery if you lay it away for a week. And this is especially tru at the low grit stage, because those deep scratches attrackt moisture and grease very much.
I learned this the hard way.

Just a question. Any reason why a sanding block like this: http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=16762 could *not* be used? Of course it's got a wider area but it would seem like that would help in terms of keeping the frame material removal even.

I ask because as a hobbyist woodworker (among the many other things I waste time doing....) I have plenty of tools, and am wondering if they might be useful in restor projects....

TIA!

Thanks for the info.

John

You could, I suppose. In fact why don't you just try it out.
One thing I can imagine is that it would be very easy to put too much pressure on a full hollow.

Also for curved razor you might have problems with the curvature, and it is also a lot harder to work on small surfaces.

And finally: mounting the sandpaper might be a problem. You can only sand with the tip area, but as soon as that area of the paper is loaded, you cannot shift the paper anymore. Whereas with my sanding stick, I can use all of the sanding surface.

Personally I don't think it will work well, or be easy to handle, but the best way to find out is to do it. Trial and error is the best way to learn.
If you have such a thing lying around, give it a try and post back.
For all I know I might be totally wrong about this.