Read through to the end for a list of best practices that will see you through most hand-sanding jobs. No matter how you look at it, you’re going to use a piece of sandpaper and apply it directly to the work or you’re going to use a block (of some kind) with sandpaper on it. Two of the methods might be described as traditional, and the third is a variation that uses the latest materials in abrasive technology. We’re constantly trying new types of abrasives and experimenting with new methods that we hear about from our colleagues here and craftsmen elsewhere.īelow, we outline methods and materials to sand by hand, based on our decades of experience. We do a bit of hand sanding in preparing stock for our power tool testing we also employ it for making photo samples and for odds and ends around the Popular Mechanics shop. Power sanding makes the most sense when the project is large and that related maintenance is offset by the speed by which you sand the entire surface. That might be fast and simple, or it might be laborious and messy, like emptying sanding dust out of a shop vacuum. When you sand with a power tool, you have to set up, then you accomplish the work itself, and then you have to clean the tool and your workspace. And the steeper the curve, the greater the problem.Īnd lastly, small jobs may reach the finish line sooner. A sander with a flat base will have a hard time smoothing them. Think of convex and concave curves on crown moldings and car bodies. What’s more, there are some curved surfaces that can only be sanded by hand.

Sometimes you need to touch up the surface to remove an imperfection that the machine caused or skipped over. As good as power tools are, they’re not perfect. Hand sanding works nicely as a follow up to power tool sanding. Isn’t hand sanding somewhat like learning to use a slide rule? A fair question. Of course, it’s right to ask why you should bother with it. It faded into obscurity with the advent of sanding power tools. Sanding by hand is a forgotten skill that was well known to woodworkers generations ago.

Wet sanding blocks