Good Day to the Creek,
Just a quickie about a homemade tool that costs little and works great.
I make two different thicknesses of these sanding sticks out of scraps.
Gee, I wonder where I can get some scrap wood strips?!?
The thin sticks are nice and flexible, for certain applications.
The thick sticks are rigid for other applications.
Just contact cement the strips and sandpaper sheet.
*That's my Dad's Dad's old screwdriver-a legacy in my shop!*
sanding-sticks-prep.jpg ready-to-be-cut-apart.jpg
I make these sanding sticks two different ways.
Just the faces with abrasive, and trim the sandpaper tight along the sides.
These function like an auger file, cutting into one side of a corner, but not the other.
The other type I glue the face plus two sides, and tightly wrap the sandpaper
around the corners, and trim them along the non-abrasive face.
These can sand both sides into a corner, and shine in tight spaces,
such as mortise ends.
sanding-sticks.jpg just-face-or-edges-too.jpg
I also use these sanding sticks to put a slight chamfer on the entry side
of mortises. This helps prevent splintering, when you keep poking tenons
in and out with a series of trial test fits.
Gotta remember to not chamfer the visible side of through mortises!
(DAMHIKT!)
mortise-clean-up.jpg
I just wanted to share a simple shop-made tool that serves an important
function in my shop.
I knew if I posted this in the Morris Chair group thread, it would get buried.
Plus this way, it might turn up on it's own if someone did a search...
Thanks for looking,
Walt