Sanding blocks?

I will be starting a my own plane soon and I am gathering stuff. I know I saw some place a quick way to make sanding blocks of different sizes. I have search this site and well as my other links with no luck. Can someone tell me where to go?

Thanks
Paul

Paul,

There are a lot of ways. I cut up scraps of hardwood I have laying around to make them and use 3M spray adhesive to glue on sandpaper. I have a lot of different sizes from 25" long monsters to little-bitty ones. These along with Permagrit dowels of varying sizes make up my sanding arsenal. I also have some that are custom made for a particular application on a particular plane. But these are done on the spot to accomplish a certain job. You can use partical board scraps or what ever, as long as they are dead flat. OK, I look kinda silly with rosewood sanding blocks (or African Zebrawood or whatever), but these do have the advantage of being pretty oily so it's fairly easy to peel off used sandpaper. And I had the scraps just laying around.

Have a read here (something from the archives):

http://www.clstunt.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=read_count&om=2473&forum=DCForumID1#15

Couple pictures of some homemade blocks I use. These have hook-n-loop sandpaper attachment stuff glued to the blocks. This particular paper seems to last and last. You can cut the hardwood block to any size and shape you'd like. HTH.

Good info!
Thanks Guys!

Paul

Something I found handy is the sticky sand paper. I get mine at the NAPA dealer - any one that sells body shop supplies - sells rolls of sticky back paper in several grades. I use it on anything flat or curved and some time back I grabbed a piece to do a quick sanding of a spot. By the time I was done the sticky had stuck to my fingers and I had been able to let go with my thumb. The paper held onto my finger tips and I could sand flat handed without tiring my thumb. The only disadvantage to this is the sanding dust gets on the sticky that is exposed and then it wont stick.

Paul, we have a guy locally who builds and maintains the powered aluminum doors you find in big grocery stores. He has scraps of huge aluminum extusions of all sizes. For long sanding blocks, and large flat blocks for sanding balsa sheet like wing skins, this stuff can't be beat. Along with the sticky sandpaper-makes sanding a breeze. And while you're in the auto body place, get some 3M Imperial yallow back wet-or-dry paper. Great stuff!

Kelvin (KD):

You have a source of extrusion for blocks and you haven't shared the wealth ?

Paul,

If you have the way to cut it as needed, scrap medium to hard wood and a Glue stick from the office supply store to attach the paper work's out great. The glue stick will adhere it to almost anything.

Also, you can use the glue stick to glue sandpaper into scraps of various interior moldings for concave blocks for LE's.

Regular paper is a lot cheaper than sticky back and usually available in more grits.

take 1/4 inch square by 12 inches balsa and glue 180 sandpaper on one side and on the other side glue 220. You now have a great slotting tool for a batch of ribs for your 1/4 inch spar. Do likewise for other slot dimensions. the two different grits for different sanding speeds or wood densities.

Use finger nail file emory boards. A bunch is about 79 cents.

use different diameter aluminum tubes and do like wise as above on each end of the tubes. You can nest these tubes inside one another to save storage space.

I find the 1/4 inch aluminum tube with 220 grit is great for fillet work. Makes very small fillets which save weight.

Bob Smiley