Getting the Most Out of Sandpaper

Not too many people get much of a thrill out of sanding, or from spending good money on sandpaper. And while I can’t turn sanding into ecstasy, or get your sandpaper free, I can at least cut the tedium and expense to the bare minimum. Here’s how it’s done:

1--Use good sandpaper that cuts fast when it’s new, plus stays sharp and clean so it keeps cutting fast long after other papers have worn out. This speeds the job and keeps paper usage to a minimum.

2--Use your paper efficiently, cutting it into the right size for the job without a lot of waste.

Simple enough? Let’s take a closer look:

Good sandpaper--After using it for the past several months, I have become convinced for three reasons that the best all-around paper you can have in your home is stearate-coated silicon carbide.

First, silicon carbide is the hardest, sharpest grit available. It cuts better and lasts longer than flint, aluminum oxide or garnet.

Second, the stearate coating keeps the paper from clogging. You can sand sticky woods, or sand between coats of paints, enamels, varnishes and polyurethane and the paper won’t clog up and become useless.

Third, stearate-coated paper costs about the same as aluminum oxide and garnet papers, so you don’t pay much extra for its advantages.

Efficiency--Once you have your paper, you’ll want to use it efficiently. If you have an orbital sander, for example, it is almost certainly designed to take sheets that are an even fraction of a full sheet of paper. Most use either a quarter or a sixth of a full sheet.

You can make a simple paper cutter like the one shown in the sketch. It’s little more than a 14-by-20-inch sheet of plywood with a wood-strip fence along the back edge and a hacksaw blade as a cutter. Screw the blade down on one end with the toothed edge facing left as shown, and leave the other end free so you can easily slip your paper under the blade.

Then drill the base to take a wooden stop peg cut from a short length of dowel. You’ll probably want at least two holes at different locations so you can move the stop peg to make different cuts. To cut a 9-by-11 sheet into quarters, for example, you’ll want one hole 4 1/2 inches from the cutting edge of the blade, the other hole 5 1/2 inches away.

To use the cutter, slide the sheet of paper under the blade, up against the fence and over against the stop peg. Then press down firmly on the hacksaw blade while lifting the left half of the paper to slice it off as shown.

Sandpaper Cutter

Easy to make board allows you to tear full-size sheets of sandpaper into correct size for sanders, eliminating waste.