Any Great Sanding Blocks Out There?

TK Steingass

TK Steingass

Knifemaker - Buckeye
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Oct 16, 2010
Messages
5,663
Gentlemen:

I typically use a flat block of hardwood and hold the sandpaper taught with my fingers when hand rubbing a blade. This does wonders for my arthritis. :thumbdn: Do any of you have a sanding block design that you made yourself or bought that you like? Something that holds the abrasive nice and tight? I can make just about anything out of wood, so a picture or two would help. I use 1 1/2" wide shop rolls that come in 50 yard lengths for abrasives.

Thanks for your help,

TK
 
I believe Nick Wheeler uses a steel sanding block, that has a bevel on one side, which allows him to get inside tight corners, etc.

I think he has a video about it on his Youtube Channel.
 
I like 3M Rubber Sanding Blocks. The ones with a flat bottom and an arched top, with flaps to secure the sandpaper.

I've only ever used them on wood, though.
 
I use the 4" wide rolls of PSA by Porter-Cable. It's great paper, and it has good stick-um.

I have different shaped pieces of wood, 4" long, and I just put several tight rolls around the block. Then, when the paper wears out, all I have to do is unroll a layer, and I have fresh paper.

I also use scraps of sole leather from Tandy. It's very thick and has just the right amount of give- for hollow grinds, for instance.
 
Thanks for the recognition fellas. :)

I think TK does mostly hollow grinds, so the stuff I used in the videos wouldn't help much.

My hollow grind sanding blocks are not as easy to hold the paper against. But I can take a hollow grind to a damn near mirror finish right on the grinder, then "pull lines" starting with a very fine paper and not much time/effort.

TK, I'd be interested in seeing your block and how you hold the abrasive to it. My gut is telling me part of your issue is the shop rolls. That stuff is made to be tough, but it's not nearly as willing to be wrapped around sanding blocks as stuff like Rhynowet and Norton Black Ice... so I'd imagine a good bit of your effort is going into fighting to keep the shop roll cloth wrapped tight.
 
have you tried crepe rubber? you can get a small piece from a shoe cobbler. it's the same stuff you would find on Clark's wallabee shoes.
 
I use a form made from anything that's handy. The rubber ones are nice. Wood ones work.

The key, I've found, is to use the cheapest spray-on adhesive you can find to hold the sandpaper to the block. I spray the form and stick the paper in place. A few minutes of drying and the paper is stuck good, but can be peeled/scraped off rather easily.
 
For trouble with your hands i thought of two things ive read lately.

In wayne goddards revised wonder of knifemaking book, he talks about and shows pics of handsanding in reverse. The sandpaper stays in one place and he move the knife in his hands. Might help with larger blades.

The other was don fogg in blades guide to knifemaking where he wraps the shop roll around bars that he says are 2' long to gain leverage and clamps the blade up to his drill press table so he can easily put it at the right height.

Or wayne goddards ergonomic push sticks

Or lots of asprin

Or machine finishes
 
To all:

I received a lot of great ideas from you - thanks! Nick: I usually pull my blades over a contoured block when I rub out hollow grinds. The guidance I was looking for was for flat ground blades where I secure the blade and pull the block over it. I am going to try Rhynowet that is glued to a block - looks like it may be the ticket. Joe, thanks for the pointers - aspirin doesn't seem to help though. :D
 
I can't say its better on my hands, or that I'm in this league at all, but I want from a hardwood block to a ~4"x1" piece of g10 with one edge rounded. It's more stable over time than the wood I was using. I hold the paper & block combo with my hands, no glue or anything fancy. It is a bit hard on the fingers.
 
One very simple thing you can try is get one of the spring clamps that lots of guys use for securing scales during glue up. Smaller one should be fine, leave enough extra paper to pull together and form a ear ontop of your block and clamp the paper close to the base as possible for stability.

On the same format you could have a block with a tab on top that you use the same idea on just would give more stability for the clamp. Something that would look like an upside down T. Hopefully that makes sense.
 
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