A better sanding

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Gabericks

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Okay I give up. I'm tired of buying cheap sandpaper from Lowe's and sanding a few pen blanks before throwing a small sheet away.

Does anybody have a recommended sanding system beyond paperback, cheap sandpaper?
Thanks
 
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I use Mirka abranet, micro mesh, Yorkshire grit, and a couple other methods depending on weather i am working with wood or not wood, Wood Is Abranet, Yorkshire, then friction polish if I'm going natural finish. If its CA then I wet sand with micromesh to 12,000 grit, then I use a 20,000 and 30,000 diamond paste. There are a ton of different methods though
 
If you are working with resins, I might suggest looking in your local auto parts store or automobile paint supply stores for better grade sheets. The papers they typically sell are high grade, commercial level stuff that has good consistency of grits. You will pay a bit more, but the value is there. Most all of the wet sanding papers I use I purchase there, including the polishing paste I use. Cut the sheet into small pieces to use.
 
EricRN said:
The 3m cubitron is the absolute best in my view.
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I should have added that I really like micromesh pads for resins. My method is—cubitron from 80 or 100 grit (depends on how good mg turning is) through 600 grit; then micromesh through all colors; then novus coarse polish, novus fine polish, and then the novus cleaner or Renn wax. Thats for plastic.

For wood, I'll use doctors pens plus finish in place of the novus, and then finish with Renn wax.
 
I did a deep dive on sandpaper a couple months ago and found this site recommended in another thread here:

SandWet™ Wet/Dry Tufbak® T461, Blue-Bak T414, Black Ice™ T214/T401

www.onlineindustrialsupply.com www.onlineindustrialsupply.com

I'm using the Norton Blue-Bak Silicon Carbide paper for all grits except 800 (which they only have in Aluminum Oxide) and for 800 I tried the Black Carbon brand, which is still good but a bit thinner backing than the Norton Blue-Bak.

www.onlineindustrialsupply.com

BlackCarbon Wet or Dry Silicon Carbide Sandpaper Sheets

BlackCarbon Wet or Dry Silicon Carbide 9" by 11" Sandpaper Sheets. Specially treated waterproof paper can be used wet for automotive sanding, and dry on wood for quality finishing. Available grits: 60 to 2500. Sold in packs of 50 sheets.
www.onlineindustrialsupply.com www.onlineindustrialsupply.com
 
A couple recommends... sorry if these seem obvious:
  • Start with the finest grit you can.
    • Removing the scratches from coarser grits can be very time consuming.
    • I never use anything below 400 grit, and typically start with 600 grit.
  • Do NOT skip grits.
    • Removing the scratches from 120 grit with 400 grit will take an eternity
  • Before switching to the next finer grit, sand lengthwise with the machine off
 
Gabericks said:
Okay I give up. I'm tired of buying cheap sandpaper from Lowe's and sanding a few pen blanks before throwing a small sheet away.

Does anybody have a recommended sanding system beyond paperback, cheap sandpaper?
Thanks
Click to expand...
"what everyone else said above"....

Along with that, sandpaper is meant to be discarded after a certain point. The brand may allow you to use one piece a little longer but nothing is going to be perfect.

I have no particular reason why I do things this way but I do.... I have a 5 pack of sandpaper rolls in 1 inch wide strips that I use. I purchase it from Woodcraft or Exotic Blanks. EB sells refills for the rolls. I typically use the sandpaper on wood blanks.

I also have Abranet sanding mesh in the same grits and find myself only using that on resins and plastics. I have used the Abranet on both types of blanks and migrated back to sandpaper for the wood blanks. I cut the abranet into 1 inch wide strips from the long/wide pieces I get from EB and then use a sharpie to write the grit rating on the paper so I can put everything in the correct order if I accidently drop them. Yes, that was learned from experience.

I am downright terrible, possibly horrible, about using the Abranet too long. Using the sandpaper I use a fresh strip that's 2 or 3 inches long for each grit for each pen. I really love how the Abranet works and sheds sanding dust.

I really like using the strips because it focuses me on how and what I'm sanding rather than dealing with a piece of sanding material that's too big for what I'm doing.

I really should just buy rolls of Abranet and haven't done it.
 
I use the rolls from 150 to 600 for wood. Also stumbled across 1000 and 4000 sandpaper on a closeout shelf at Michael's; both are Craftsman FYI. For synthetics, I turn with carbide, then to a skew, 500 grit, 1,000 grit. Then MM and Hutt plastic polish.
I cut sandpaper with cheap scissors from Harbor Freight @$1.99 a pair. Find I have good luck with strips rather than sheets. Have two or three pair of scissors in the shop and storage building.
 
Gabericks said:
Okay I give up. I'm tired of buying cheap sandpaper from Lowe's and sanding a few pen blanks before throwing a small sheet away.

Does anybody have a recommended sanding system beyond paperback, cheap sandpaper?
Thanks
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Before you go buying super expensive abrasive sheets I have a few tricks that may resolve your dilemma.

1. You can use one of those rubbery sticks that are used on belt/circular sander to clear the wood swarth from the grit side of the sanding paper. I've done that for years and it will 'rejuvenate' the grit side so it can be used a time and again. Yes, eventually the grit just breaks down but most of the time is just gets so fouled with swarth that it cannot cut any more.

2. Something else I do is drag the grit side of the paper on the outside of either my jeans or my shirt when I am into a project and dont want to step aside to get the stick, and that will clear the swarth also. Obviously it will dirty your clothes but I'm sure you aren't wearing your Sunday best to work in the shop. And before anyone steps up and says, you'll wear your clothes doing that....really? You do it when the sandpaper isn't cutting as well as it should, not after every stroke. Yes, I've used this method on the micromesh pads and it works well.

With that being said, I've been using the color coded rolls but they are no longer available so I'm not going to link them but I just bought THIS set of rolls and started using the 150grit on a new project and it seems to hold up pretty well. Of course I use method number 2 above to refresh the grit.
 
Mortalis said:
Yes but, I cant seem to find the dammed toothbrush when I want it. 😜
I can always find my pants or shirt.
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I save mine. Have at least half dozen in various places- lathe has two, drill press, bandsaw, table saw. Another half dozen in a canister on a cabinet. Glad you can find your pants. I'm getting a mental picture. :oops:
 
First off, so far I'm only working with wood and stabilized wood blanks so far, so take the rest of this with that in mind. I use the roll pack from Penn State - 1" wide rolls with a tear-off strip on the box, 150, 240, 320, 400 and 600 grits. At 320 I stop and slap on a coat or two of Aqua Coat water based grain filler, let that dry for a day, then continue on sanding. Then I grabbed a pack of sanding sponges (wet or dry, I just do dry on my wood blanks). I use the finest 5 grits in the pack: 1200, 1500, 2000, 2500 and 3000. From there I hit it quick with steel wool.

I have a 2" paint brush with pretty stiff bristles hanging next to the lathe that I use to clean off the paper strips and sponges. I'll keep using them as long as I can feel their abrasiveness and there's no residue caked up that the brush can't remove. Depending on the hardness and oiliness of the material being sanded, I may only get one or two uses out of the paper, or squeeze several uses out of them. The sponges have been holding out for quite some time now, with a quick brushing after each use cleaning them right out.
 
Woodchipper said:
I save mine. Have at least half dozen in various places- lathe has two, drill press, bandsaw, table saw. Another half dozen in a canister on a cabinet.
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So it's not just me!

FWIW I use Klingspoor's gold from the scrap bin. I'm fortunate enough to live a couple miles from their Winston Salem store. The bargain boxes are a good start and they'll probably go on sale before long. I've seen them at $10 on Black Friday weekend. I have used cheap Harbor Freight sandpaper, too, but I don't expect to get far with it.

On wood blanks, I never go coarser than 400, usually 600. For something more rustic, sometimes I just burnish it with a cloth or leather strip. Keep your skew sharp. If it's sharp enough and you have a steady hand, you might not need to sand at all.
 
I use Mirka Course and Fine Wet/Dry sandpaper sheets. I pre-slice them into 2.5 cm x 3 cm rectangles using a paper slicer, and then store them by grit in a bead organizer. I get about 80 to 88 pieces per sheet.

Use one per grit per pen (there's pretty much nothing left for another pen), so my sanding stays consistent between pens. First grit is dry so I can see the defects in my turning, lol. The rest are wet. I go up to 2000 or 2500 grit, depending on where I started, then switch to Magic Juice to finish it off (resins only).

For woods or hybrids, I dry sand using the same sandpaper to either 320 or 400, then use Superior Grit Original and Microfine. I usually finish these off with Shellawax, but I've been wanting to find a higher gloss, durable finish (that's not CA glue), so I've finished off a couple with Rubio Monocoat (but I think the oils in the Superior grit are interfering with it).
 
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