Thread: Mini sander?

Dremel tools and the like have been known to eat a blade or two at my workbench, and I only use them if nothing else seems to be working, but what about something like this:
How to Build a Toothbrush Sander - filmmkr's Photos | SmugMug

Anyone here tried it?

I use the power toothbrush with brass cleaner as a tool to clean gunk off old razors. I did not make a sander from one. I have made and used similar devices made from lady's old "Cricket" shavers. I think that that illustrated toothbrush style would be pretty good for getting the last layers of grunge off. It would give a nice non-directional finish as a prep for polishing or left at that as a nice finish on an old razor. I am not sure how much power that the toothbrush has for heavy sanding
Respectfully
~Richard.

Well I wasn't really thinking heavy sanding. I bought a brush tonite at Walmart on the way home from work. I'll update how it works out, probably later on tonite.

Great Idea,

I just made one of these this AM using one of my old heads from my oral B rechargeable. I used 1200 grit wet dry to see how well it works.

I think it has good potential. The heads on my toothbrush are replaceable, so as I replace the one I use for actual tooth brushing, I plan on turning the used one into one of these mini sanding heads using different grits of sand paper.

I think it will be more useful for the higher grit as the motor isn't very powerful.

That toothbrush-handled sanding stick could certainly be the perfect tool for some jobs. I make a lot of simple tools for a specific job, and I like the suggestion. I'll tuck it away in my memory until I need it!.

Coming from the jewelery/lapidary trade, I've used lots of different types of abrasive devices, and a lot of them would lend themselves to Straight Razor work. The ones I find myself using most are pretty simple sanding sticks, of two types. The first are the large black disposable emery boards you can find among the nail polish and nail clippers at any drug store. They usually have two different grits of sandpaper glued to opposite sides of a foam-core stick. I find a million uses for them at the jeweler's bench.

I have another sanding stick that is a similar size, but stiffer, and the sandpaper is replaceable. You can cut strips of any kind of sandpaper and clamp them onto this tool. It looks like the photo below, and you can buy it here. If you scroll down that page, there are some other variations of specialized handheld abrasive tools.