I have to confess, I've been spoiled by my random-orbit sander. It's taken most of the drudgery out of smoothing the rough surfaces of my woodworking projects. The problem is, a random-orbit sander isn't much help when it comes to project parts that aren't flat.
In those cases, it usually means breaking out the sandpaper sheets and limbering up the elbows for some good old-fashioned hand sanding. And for me, the very thought of hand sanding more than just a few touch-ups makes me want to run and hide.
That's why I'm constantly on the lookout for products that can help me avoid the jobs I don't like. I'm happy to share a few of my profile sanding solutions with you.
IT STARTS WITH A DRILL. As you can see in the photo of the assorted sanding aids, they all have either a spindle (or a collar that fits a spindle). That's because they all get their power from a hand drill, a drill press, or in one extreme example, an angle grinder.
Of course, this shouldn't come as a surprise. Hand drills and drill presses offer plenty of torque, and the speed is often easily adjustable to suit the task at hand. If you've ever installed a sanding drum on your drill press, then you've seen how useful the idea can be. These different tools simply build on that concept and offer a few options for a bit more flexibility.
A SANDER FOR EVERY TASK. Each of these accessories relies on highquality, cloth-backed abrasives. We purchased most of these sanding accessories from Klingspor's Woodworking Shop. They offer a wide assortment of specialized abrasive products.
SANDING MOPS. One of the first products to consider is the sanding mop. You can use it on just about any surface. As you can see in the main photo, the mop consists of several individual cloth-backed abrasive strips. By stacking the strips on a mandrel, you can build them up to whatever thickness you need.
After tightening up the mandrel and installing it in a drill press, it's a good idea to "break in" the abrasives on a scrap of hardwood. This helps soften the edges and makes the mop perform better.
The other type of mop shown works best in a hand drill. The thin "fingers" can reach into the hardest-to-sand nooks and crannies to leave a smooth surface.
FLAPWHEELS. Another very useful class of sanding accessories is the flapwheel. It's easy to see how they get their name. You can see a couple different kinds in the photo.
The first type of flapwheel is simply tightly packed swatches of stiff, cloth-backed abrasive fixed to a spindle. These provide a very aggressive cut. They're great for hogging out a lot of stock and can be very useful for sculpting, or cleaning up coarse carvings.
The second type are the "finish" flapwheels. These wheels also rely on swatches of abrasive cloth, but between each one is a section of non-woven abrasive pad. The combination of the two types of abrasives results in a noticeably less aggressive cut from the cloth, followed by a smoothing action provided by the pads.
They're perfect for cleaning up irregular shapes, like the bowl shown above. As with the regular flapwheels, the finish wheels are available in different diameters to suit any project and can be used in a hand drill or drill press.
ANGLE GRINDER FLAP DISC. For really aggressive shaping, an angle grinder flap disc might be just the ticket. As you can see in the photo below, this disc makes short work of shaping a chair seat or just about any task where lots of stock needs to be removed. With zirconia alumina abrasive on a phenolic resin backing plate, the discs last a long time.
SMALL SCALE. At the other end of the spectrum are abrasive brushes for the Dremel rotary tool, shown in the box below. They provide a gentle touch for delicate work.
No matter what the project, one of these handy accessories is sure to help you get the job done.
Dremel Abrasive Brush
When you need to smooth out the fine, detailed work of a carving or even an intricate molding detail, the Dremel Abrasive Brush is what you need. As you can tell from the photo, it looks like a flap sander, but the flexible strips are actually rubber impregnated with coarse, medium, or fine abrasive. They can get into the tightest spots.
