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Archive for the ‘General’ Category
Monday, January 24th, 2011
Clamping and holding parts during milling is always a challenge. A bit of fine sandpaper can improve your results.
Adding a bit of fine sandpaper to this template routing sled increases the friction between the part and the sled, improving the holding power of the clamps.
Remember to add the abrasive evenly to keep the part square and level.
We always want to hear your sanding tips and tricks! You can comment here, email us at RW@2sand.com, find us on FaceBook or follow on Twitter.
Posted in General, Sandpaper, Woodworking | No Comments »
Sunday, October 31st, 2010
When I have a lot of molding to sand, auto body filler can make a fast profile sanding block.
 Profile sanding block
To make a fast profile, apply a mound of body filler to a scrap of 1/4″ ply. Lay some thin plastic wrap over the filler and press a sample of the molding into it. Make sure the entire profile is filled then leave it to harden.
 Excess trimmed
Once the filler is hardened, remove the scrap part, and trim the block to size. Sandwich a piece of sandpaper between the block and the molding, and go to town.
Like the card trick I posted previously, rolling the sandpaper breaks down the backer and makes it more flexible. Bond the sandpaper to the block, and you can use it with a stroke-type detail sander like the Porter-Cable.
Posted in General, Sandpaper, Woodworking | No Comments »
Sunday, October 3rd, 2010
Many, many materials have been used to make sandpaper. As discussed before, ground glass was one of the early commercial grits. This is why the English still refer to abrasive sheets as “Glasspaper”.
Today, there are a number of standard materials used to make sandpaper. Aluminum Oxide is perhaps the most common, and likely what you will find at hardware stores and home centers. It is commonly used for sanding wood and metal. Garnet can also be found although it is not as common. It is traditionally preferred for woodworking and you may hear older woodworkers refering to “garnet paper”.
Silicone Carbide is pretty common as well. You’ll recognize it as the black “wet/dry” sandpaper, with a plastic sheet backer. Very fine grades of sandpaper may use chromium oxide, usually in 600 grit or finer.
The sheets shown above are Aluminum Oxide; (tan) Garnet; (red) and Silicone Carbide. (black)
In the next blog, we will discuss grit grades, and how to choose the right grits for your needs.
Tags: 2sand, abrasive, aluminum oxide, chromium oxide, garnet, garnet paper, glasspaper, grit, sanding, sandpaper, silicone carbide, wet/dry
Posted in General, Sandpaper, Woodworking | No Comments »
Monday, September 13th, 2010
Prior to the advent of random orbit sanders (read sanding disks) sandpaper was primarily sold in rectangular sheets. 9 x 11″ is the standard size. Why does this matter? Well, when electric sanders became available, they typically came in two sizes, half sheet sanders and quarter sheet sanders.
The great big silver Porter-Cable sander of old, the 505 was a half sheet sander.
and the Porter-Cable 330 was a quarter sheet sander.
Knowing that these sanders were half or quarter told you the pad size and that you could get two or four usable pieces of sandpaper for your sander from each full sheet purchased.
But before you say that this info is no longer important, bear in mind that pad sanders like these still hold a place in many professional shops. When used properly, they excel at sanding door panels and can get much further into the corners than any rotary sander can.
Admittedly, this may or may not be usable info for you personally, but we believe that the more you know, the better decisions you can make.
Tags: electric sanders, pad sanders, Porter-Cable 330, read sanding disks, sanding door panels, sandpaper
Posted in General, Sandpaper | No Comments »
Thursday, September 9th, 2010
We had mentioned on Facebook and Twitter that the English still refer to sandpaper as glasspaper since the first commercially viable sandpaper made used ground glass as the abrasive.
This quickly lead to a spirited, if slightly tongue in cheek conversation of the many differences between American woodworking terms and English terms for the same things:
“ Kari Hultman I wondered about that. Glass paper is referred to in the book I’m reading: The Essential Woodworker. 2Sand Kari, I had seen the reference too, and so I looked it up. It is funny how many terms are different between English and American woodworkers. They refer to “cramps” which we call clamps!”
And then Kari added the terms “Rabbet and Rebate”.
Rick Waters piped in with:
“ Rick Waters American=Planer, English= Thicknesser and, American:=Jointer, English=Planer” So, what terms have you come across to add to our dictionary? Please feel free to add your comment here, or jump in on Facebook or Twitter
Tags: 2sand, glasspaper, sanding, sandpaper, woodworking, woodworking terms
Posted in General, Woodworking | No Comments »
Saturday, May 15th, 2010
What will we post? That is the question as we get started blogging here at 2Sand.com. Inevitably, we will post about various topics related to selling sanding supplies on the web. Here are some potential categories:
- Sanding tips
- Fun facts
- Finishing preparation
- Unique uses for abrasives
What do you think? Please give us some ideas for topics, and feel free to submit sanding tips, tricks, unique uses for abrasives, preparation methods, etc. Want to write a guest post? Great! Call RJ quick before the urge goes away.
Tags: sanding supplies, Sanding tips, tricks
Posted in General | No Comments »
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