Cheap, ergonomic sanding blocks

Bill Newcomer
I thought I would share a way I came up with to hold sandpaper. I needed precise control to sanding body putty. Folded over sandpaper was not doing the trick as the edges kept leaving gouges. The smaller the piece of paper the harder it is to hold too. I have watched panel sanding on cars on TV and thought how could I make a 1:25th 'longboard' sander. Here is my solution: 1" squares of sandpaper that are binder-clamped to some lengths of 7/16 styrene I-beam. It is very easy to hold and control. I have set up 4 grades of abrasives for whatever surface finish I need to get to. While it does not replace my jewelers files, I can remove material
with very fine control with no finger fatigue.

Rui
Great idea. Especially being able to hang them with the label visible to be able quickly grab what you need. On more than one occasion I have grabbed the wrong grit. 🙁

Bill Newcomer
Rui, At first I just had the red 600 and really coarse and superfine in black, It was really easy to tell by the feel. I recently added a third grit in black so it was best to label them.

Jv
Yep thanks for sharing