I’ve had a kind of crappy blue plastic borg sanding block for some time, and I’ve been lazy and switched out the paper. I don’t use it too often, but its finally given up the ghost and won’t really stay closed any more. I decided to make myself some proper ones with a nice cork backing.
Here’s the original borg crappy one..
The one thing I do like about it is that it is sized such that you can quarter a regular sized sheet, and they fit the sanding block right.
I had a bunch of sheets for cork, because I made myself a small corkboard/takboard for veneer inlay layout purposes. I had some spare blocks of ash, left over from the bench, but I actually ended up making a sizing mistake and switched to maple.
I drilled a 1/4” hole, counterbored a larger hole, lined it with 5 minute epoxy. and a 1/4-20 nut into it.
2 small walls on either end, to help retain the sandpaper, were glued on. My leg vice made an excellent clamp. Note that the counterbored nut faces down!
Then I cut some rough pieces of 1/4” cork backing. (I found it at Staples.)
Plenty of glue, there’s a lot of surface area to grab on cork, and some bench holdfasts make good clamps.
Some over-sized ash blocks, fitted snugly in between the ends, will give me room to sculp something comfortable to hold.
Some bandsaw work, followed up with the oss/belt sander, and voila!
10 comments so far
PurpLev
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#1 posted 06-29-2009 04:04 PM
much much much better :)
I used to have something similar, but without the cork on the bottom, if you just use wood backing, it’ll give you a straight plane to register the sanding paper against (good to sand straight planes and surfaces).
-- ㊍ When in doubt - There is no doubt - Go the safer route.
Splinterman
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#2 posted 06-29-2009 04:31 PM
Nice neat job…well done Jon.
kolwdwrkr
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#3 posted 06-29-2009 05:34 PM
cool, looks like something I may need to do too. Thanks for sharing.
-- ~ Inspiring those who inspire me ~
Karson
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#4 posted 06-29-2009 07:58 PM
A great variation. Nice job.
-- I've been blessed with a father who liked to tinker in wood, and a wife who lets me tinker in wood. Appomattox Virginia [email protected] †
Craftsman on the lake
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#5 posted 06-29-2009 09:26 PM
I need to stop just wrapping sandpaper around the first wood block that I have that’s about the right size and make something like this. Nice job. Thanks for sharing the process.
-- The smell of wood, coffee in the cup, the wife let's me do my thing, the lake is peaceful.
Jon3
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#6 posted 06-29-2009 09:28 PM
This took me about 5 hours total. Keep in mind I also spent time waxing the bed of my jointer and tablesaw, as well as making a small drill bit rack.
So, about 4 hours of puttering about, less than an hour of actual work. Although I broke it up over saturday and sunday so I could let glue dry!
Kent Shepherd
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#7 posted 06-29-2009 09:34 PM
Thanks for the information. I need to build me some. Good job.
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HokieMojo
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#8 posted 06-29-2009 11:48 PM
while these are very nice, they would take me much longer. I’m going to stick with my $5 rubber block for now, but maybe someday. If I knew mine would come out this well, maybe i’d try.
a1Jim
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#9 posted 06-30-2009 07:39 AM
Nice cool idea
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Praki
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#10 posted 06-30-2009 03:49 PM
Great idea.
-- Praki, Aspiring Woodworker
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