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Sanding and Smoothing
First, I hate to sand by hand. I do most of my sanding
with soft drum sanders that fit my Dremmel. Originally I believe that soft drum sanders that used sheet sandpaper were
only available with ¼ inch shanks. During the past several years, soft drum sanders have become available with 1/8 inch
shanks in a ½ inch drum size and most recently, a 3/32 inch shank in a 3/8 inch drum size. The 3/8 inch drum sander
is often marketed as the “Wanda Marsh” soft drum sander. These soft drum sanders use the reddish Swiss
cloth backed or the German tan cloth backed paper. They are about 1 ¼ inches long and do not leave tracks like the short
cardboard sanding drums.
I also use tapered split mandrels that hold the cloth backed paper.
I cut a rectangular piece of cloth backed sand paper approximately, ½ to 3/8 inch by 7/8 to 1 1/8 inch long and fold it in
half so that the ½ or 3/8 inch width is maintained with the sand side out on both sides of the fold. I then slide the
doubled paper into the tapered split mandrel so that the folded edge is just overhanging the end of the spilt mandrel by about
1/8 or so inches. The size of the rectangle that I use depends upon the weight of the paper. Larger rectangles
can be used with finer grades of paper since the doubled paper will slide deeper into the split. With finer grit paper,
like 240 or so, the fold can protrude about 3/16 inch or so beyond the end of the tapered mandrel. This allows for sanding
deep crevasses.
I have tried the Wanda Marsh tapered paper only sander and it is ok, however,
it must be used at the lowest speed and the paper tends to degrade fast. Furthermore, you must use lots of paper to
roll up using the templates provided with the device.
I do final sanding by hand with 400 to 600 grit paper. I use
320 grit paper with one fold to get into creases etc. My bark carvings are lightly sanded with 150 to 220 paper by hand.
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