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Foam pipe insulation and swimming noodles make great sanding pads
Soft, flexible foam makes a great base for sandpaper because you can easily squeeze or compress it to fit a variety of shapes. Wrap sandpaper around scraps of foam pipe insulation to sand medium-size coves. For large concave surfaces, use scraps of foam swimming noodles. These are easy to cut with a bread knife. Stick paper to the inside surface of pipe insulation to make a sanding pad for dowels and other cylindrical shapes.
Save your fingers—try contour sanding grips
Contour sanding grips make it easier to sand molding profiles because you can get a good grip and the shape stays consistent as you sand. We’re sanding a coved edge created with a router. You can buy a set of these shaped rubber sanding pads for about $6. (They’re also sold under the Tadpole brand name.) Simply choose the one that fits the profile you’re sanding and wrap sandpaper around it. I like to use sandpaper with pressure-sensitive adhesive on the back and stick it right to the pad. You can buy small rolls of adhesive-backed sandpaper at home centers and woodworking supply stores for about $4.
Lee Valley: (800) 871-8158. www.leevalley.com. Set of 15 Contour Sanding Grips, No. 68Z82.10. $10.50. Smaller sets available as well. Woodcraft: (800) 225-1153. www.woodcraft.com. Tadpole Sanding Grips. Sets from $5 to $9.
Stick sandpaper to a putty knife to reach into tight corners
It’s difficult to sand “with the grain” into tight corners without scratching the adjacent wood. Here’s a tip that works great for these hard-to-reach areas. Wrap an adhesive-backed sanding disc over the edge of a flexible putty knife. Trim the sandpaper flush to the edge of the putty knife with a utility knife. Adhesive-backed sandpaper discs are readily available at home centers and hardware stores. Otherwise you can use spray adhesive to mount regular sandpaper or buy a roll of sandpaper with adhesive backing.
Buy ‘clog-resistant’ sandpaper for sanding painted surfaces
Paint and resinous wood like pine will clog most types of sand-paper quickly. To avoid using reams of sandpaper, look for sandpaper labeled as “no-clog”or “clog-resistant.” It’s coated with a soapy film, called stearate, that is shed as you sand, taking the paint or resin with it and leaving the grit exposed for more efficient sanding. This “no-load” paper is easy to recognize. Look for a mottled gray or colored surface. Two common types of sandpaper, brown aluminum oxide and yellow garnet, are not coated and will clog easily. Clog-resistant sandpaper costs a little more, but it’s worth it because it’ll last three or four times longer and save you sanding time.
Make a custom sanding block to speed up sanding of complex shapes
Scraps of rigid foam insulation (extruded polystyrene) make great sanding blocks and have the advantage of being easy to shape. Make three blocks while you’re at it. Then glue three progressively finer grit papers to the blocks to complete your sanding sequence. If you don’t have any extruded polystyrene, ask for scraps at a local building site or look for a damaged sheet at a home center or lumberyard.
This profile sander has one drawback. It’s difficult to fit the sandpaper tightly into the sharp corners of the custom-shaped block. This can result in rounded-over edges on some molding profiles. To prevent this, slice the sandpaper with a utility knife in the “creases” and press it tight to the block with a putty knife. The other solution is to cut the custom-shaped block into sections to eliminate the parts that could round over a sharp profile. Sand these areas separately with a small square sanding block or a small piece of folded paper.
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