TERRIBLE internet trend for sanding wood.

[@StumpyNubs]

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[@thebamfordman]

$60 shipping to the U.K. ☹️ Guessing it would pay for itself in sandpaper supplies quite quickly?

[@WoodworkingTop535]

I like this video, it is very necessary for everyone

[@daveengstrom9250]

I find this topic abrasive!

[@jonmccormick6805]

I'll file that comment away with my angle grinder.

[@madtitan9639]

Saying that around here really takes a lot of grit.

[@victorbongers5012]

I approve of this comment

[@dhgmllcshea5038]

Careful... ya don't wanna get kicked out of the Abrasive Engineering Society.... and become a yes man!

[@HvnMtn]

Yeah, he really just scratched the surface about sanding.

[@VV0RK]

Sir, this is the internet. How dare you be calm and reasonable !

[@ericleiser33]

Jim's from Michigan. If you're from the midwest this was the equivalent of being really angry. Things really calmed down though when he started explaining about the cork.

[@eddolous]

True,and what’s up with the beard

[@Noticer_10-4]

@@ericleiser33 😂

[@dhgmllcshea5038]

​@@ericleiser33ummm y'all never heard of Dick the Bruiser on the Riff? Jeffrey Figer?

[@thethree60five]

What? Reason, logic, realism, and debunking... The interweb is for spreading freedumn thoughts!

[@kenea3226]

You are a great teacher and valuable resource.

[@oldtop4682]

Hmmm, something else to buy to make my life a bit easier. I'll order a cork block this weekend. I have an old rubber sanding block that works pretty well, and a more rigid one I made from wood - both are showing their age. Cork makes a TON of sense! P.S. I built the Moxon vise you showed a few weeks back. Man, I needed that in my life 40 years ago!

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

This wasn't where I thought you were going with that. It's been a while since I did any wood working, but I definitely used the blocks with sand paper. But, now that I think about it, I wasn't using a power sander, and I only remember using the block with chunkier sand paper. The finer stuff, I was using without the block.

[@kencross25]

Another informative video, just when I thought I had this sanding thing down pat you show me new innovative ways to sand. Those Carbide blocks work great be expensive I only bought one as you suggested, could use a discount code to help us newbies out. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience.

[@StumpyNubs]

I believe they are 15% off right now. And I also provided a 10% off discount code (next to the link) for non-sale items.

[@samdiamond7642]

Thanks I'm try it on a car panel soon !!

[@chipb7570]

Good video and advice

[@danfd26233]

Bit Festool doesn't make a hand sander.... 😅

[@traillesstravelled7901]

Nobody's going to notice. You don't seem to have the conviction my mother -in-law does to find a mistake I've made , and make everyone aware.

[@Just_A_Name14]

Well maybe you shouldn’t have married into a narcissistic perfectionist family 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@Ken-kb5fw]

@@Just_A_Name14shouldn’t HAVE! Not shouldn’t OF!

[@Just_A_Name14]

@@Ken-kb5fw who cares troll

[@nickpearsonuk]

@@Ken-kb5fwA sentence should start with with a capital letter whilst we’re picking up mistakes!

[@jimh472]

Dude...this is actually pretty profound. So many channels focus on the machining and construction and are light on good finishing tips.

[@kernelpickle]

That’s probably because if you look close enough at their finished pieces you can see the tool marks from their power sander. It looks good enough at a distance on camera the way it catches the light-but in some close ups you can see which guys do better work than the others. I would imagine that they aren’t teaching finishing techniques because they know they suck at it and if you followed their instructions, you’d probably complain that it doesn’t look very good and they’d be exposed for their lower quality work at the most important part of the job.

[@daviddazer2425]

I totally agree. I have noticed that often a craftsman puts a lot of care into the build, but then fails in finishing. Our beloved Norm Abram used to just slap polyurethane on his projects.

[@theglowcloud2215]

@@daviddazer2425 Norm was such a master, I readily forgive whatever attention he didn't give to finishing.

[@TracksWithDax]

All due respect, I think the real reason is because a lot of them make their living on youtube, so it's to their benefit to make their stuff look just good enough for a screen

[@squirts1]

@@kernelpickle no, it's because nobody wants to watch youtube videos of people hand sanding wood for hours. that doesn't generate views or revenue.

[@kenbrown2808]

"this is a handmade product. any minor variations in texture and color enhance the value of the finished product" words to live by.

[@acrazydurian]

one thing i learned making 3d models is human like symmetry, but hate perfect symmetry. try take a photo of a person and mirror the face right down the middle and see for yourself if you dont believe me. we say we like perfection, but in reality we dont. in the best case it feels cheap and mass produced, worst case you get uncanny valley. because nothing in the environment we evolved in for millions of years is ever perfect.

[@kenbrown2808]

@@acrazydurian movie fact: until Revenge of the Sith, Darth Vader's helmet and mask were not symmetrical.

[@sgardo84]

I'm from Australia but live in the US, back home you can buy cork sanding blocks for a few $, sized correctly to use a quarter sheet of paper. Blows my mind that home Depot and Lowe's don't have these as an impulse buy item at every register!

[@darren92redrum67]

Yea, i am in you UK, use to be able to get cork block in pound shops even

[@kernelpickle]

That’s because they sell the 3M sanding sponge things that are probably just as rigid or a little less than the cork.

[@daffydavidyt]

​@@3nertiapretty much every page on this topic on the internet disagrees with you.

[@OneTruePhreak]

​@@3nertiacork is bark, from an evergreen oak, and removing it doesn't kill the tree. The bark regrows, and it can be harvested about once every decade. How is it not sustainable?

[@maudiojunky]

@@OneTruePhreak The guy's just talking out his ass. The biggest problem with cork is its supply is short-term inelastic because it takes time to grow new oaks.

[@stevenwymor1398]

3M also makes a rubber sanding block that I love using. Just enough flexibility. And it has built in hooks to hold the sandpaper.

[@thebamfordman]

I had something similar years ago. Couldn't get on with it. Much prefer a cork block that I can just grab and wrap the paper around.

[@Just_A_Name14]

3m is one of the most toxic companies out there and should never be supported Go look at all the stuff they make that sits in the body it’s whole existence

[@cannaroe1213]

@@thebamfordman I want to be that guy, but i always find my paper is too loose, and it tears. Even with a sanding block with clips i've got, the paper tears if its not really taught. Maybe with the paper folded all the way around and back over itself?

[@dhgmllcshea5038]

​@@cannaroe1213I flex my 30 year old rubber sanding block into a curve when I lock the 2nd set of teeth in- this gets me the tension.

[@stevenwymor1398]

@@dhgmllcshea5038 exactly.

[@JarheadCrayonEater]

Well, this definitely explains why dumping sand on the wood never worked. It's about time someone told me!

[@contestwill1556]

sometimes instead of taking the tool to the wood, it's easier to take the wood to the tool. try pounding sand with your workpiece

[@RuneCarverLLC]

Actually… I do use sand, dirt, gravel, nuts, bolts, screws, and whatever it takes to get the texture and finish that I'm looking for. If you really do want to use sand, I suggest you try playground sand at your Home Depot. It's actually, a pretty decent grain and could add some excellent texture and weathering and aging to your without big scratches. :-)

[@RuneCarverLLC]

@@contestwill1556 That's what i'm taking about... drag it across the sidewalk, and up the driveway... every 10 feet ages your wood 100 years, it's freaking phenomenal! 😳🤔😀💁👍👍👍

[@valvenator]

It works great on wood floors. A while back a local bar under new management decided to have a beach party for Halloween by dumping beach sand all over the floors. This was after they had totally refinished them. Should have done so after the party. When all the sand was finally removed the floors were stripped back down to bare wood!

[@JarheadCrayonEater]

This went from a joke to some of the best advice I've seen! Thanks, fellas!

[@carnsoaks1]

My English friend was a Trained French Polisher. He used the cork blocks just as you advised.

[@RoamingAdhocrat]

he taught Polish to French speakers?

[@georgemorley1029]

@@RoamingAdhocratNo, don’t be stupid. He obviously polished Frenchmen, but only if they were trained first, presumably on how to be polished.

[@IronCreekSW26]

As a 76 yr old woodworker, thank you for keeping common sense alive for younger generations.

[@RuneCarverLLC]

@@IronCreekSW26 Will they ever learn...??? 🤔💁 I heard my grandpa say that about me around 60 years ago! 🙏😵‍💫🙈 Have faith in the system my friend, Mother Nature has a way of working these things out... it just takes a few eons! 😳😬🙏🤞

[@mrfarts5176]

Unfortunately, it seems like having gay men like this as roll models for young people is causing them to be recruited.

[@Druss2012]

​@@RuneCarverLLCyea... I just learned. Thanks stumpy nubs for sharing common sense since these old dinosaurs are so reluctant to share their common sense 😂😂

[@mrcat5508]

@@RuneCarverLLCwhy are you using so many emojis?

[@RuneCarverLLC]

@@mrcat5508 Hi, Because they are legitimate and long established glyph-like protocol, and proto-alphabet like broad range of Asian, Canaanite, early Hebrew, Greek and Runes... these are all characters made of specific meanings (each character has s specific meaning), and are not random "emojis". Look up the ASCII (extended) character set, and research who actually owns the right to determine which are public and what they mean (hint: It's a prominent religious pontiff). 😳🤔💁

[@calowaykagan]

Another powerfully simple and wise video. When I watch you, it reminds me of finding that one person in the hardware store with enough experience to tell you plainly what works for the lowest cost and least amount of material.

[@disturbedmaynard3873]

Pretty sure that if you were buying a block of cork labelled as sanding block cork, you would pay a lot more. I actually bought a folding 1 inch thick yoga mat for working under the car. Keeps the wife guessing if you are buying yoga equipment.

[@michaelpfaff8280]

I use mdf with cork laminated to it, and 220 grit. Works great for the final hand pass! 👍

[@traillesstravelled7901]

Yup, I do the exact same thing.

[@brianbarney1885]

After sanding projects for hours I discovered smoothing planes, now I use a smoothing plane and scrapers when needed followed by light hand sanding with finer grits. This video is spot on for me, thanks Stumpy. I really miss the Old Timey Woodworker videos and the ‘cold one’ at the end. You and Paul Sellers are my favorite UTube woodworkers, most of the others just pirate and then act like they did all the historical research.

[@andreachinaglia5804]

Same here, when possible I don't even sand, the surface left by a plane is superior as pores are not clogged with sawdust, I hand sand with fine grit only if there are spots I can not reach with a plane to uniform the surface. Hint: a rabbet plane is useful to "sand" certain spots, I don't own a bullnose plane and a bullnose rabbet plane, but I suppose that with those 4 hand tools is possible to "sand" every part of an assembled piece of furniture or windows and doors.

[@VAXHeadroom]

@@andreachinaglia5804 Came here to say the same. I prefer an 'edge cut' surface and it doesn't take hardly any longer and IMHO produces a superior face.

[@andreachinaglia5804]

@@VAXHeadroom in my experience it actually takes way less, the surface that requires to go trough 3 gits of paper is perfect after only 1 or 2 strokes with a smoothing plane and is superior. Mi problem are the little spots that I have to sand let's say after assembling a door or window to get rid of glue spots, those sanded spots are inferior an take the finish in a different way having clogged pores so I have to hand sand the rest with the final grit to get uniformity. Maybe with a bullnose plane and a bullnose rabbet plane is possible to plane those spots after gluing and assembling, but I don't own them and hand sanding a planed surface to get uniformity is anyway really fast.

[@andreachinaglia5804]

@@VAXHeadroom by the way some years ago at a woodworkers meeting I sanded 3 spots of the same piece of wood and planed an other spot, the 3 spots was sanded with 3 professional grade sanders, Festo, Makita and Bosch using premium quality papaer, then I applied an oil finish to the wood, everyone agreed that the planed surface was superior, the difference was so evident (and the hand plane was not my perfectly tuned one, was the smoothing plane of the shop we was in and I did spend only a couple of minutes to sharpen it properly as the shop owner was more into power woodworking).

[@mcp1978]

My dad is an old school trained fine and rough carpenter from Denmark. He has always had a whole bunch of old cork sanding blocks in different sizes, but most with tapered edges on one side (top side). I have never seen any cork sanding blocks for sale anywhere in Canada, where I currently reside.

[@jmi967]

And don't put too much pressure on your paper, you’ll just dull it faster and make the work uneven. This goes for brushes too, let the tips do the work.

[@kernelpickle]

Exactly this-watch someone paint an expensive car with a custom paint job. They’ll go back to wet sand after their s second or third clear coat, without taking it down past those layers of clear. Show cars that look impossibly smooth and shiny are all done with a wet sanding and the lightest touch. To any of the woodworkers who’ve never touched paper finer than 220-that’s the lowest grit I start on to remove and level. Sometimes I’ll go as low as 120 for really rough surfaces or wood-but the real magic happens with a wet sanding at 800 and above. I’ll go as high as 2,000 or 3,000 because that’s the highest you’ll find in any store. When you touch the stuff it doesn’t even seem like would do anything at that fine of a grit, but get it wet and gently glide it across a painted surface, and it’ll make it look amazing. Then it’s all about the buffing and waxing after that to make it shiny again. If you want a matte finish but only have gloss clear, you can just knock down the shine like that, and skip ahead through the buffing stage.

[@jsmxwll]

I've always used 1/4" neoprene from an old mouse pad that was too thick to be comfortable as a mouse pad. Made a few sanding blocks gluing it to blocks of wood. Works great for contour sanding blocks and such. Never tried cork. I'll give it a shot, my current sanding blocks are getting a little ragged.

[@TaylerMade]

as a retired furniture maker i have to agree about the rubbish often espoused by people in youtube. generally speaking, even though i have electric sanders, i prefer to use a finishing plane on a piece to take off a very fine shaving and leave a perfect surface. or maybe a scraper. but once you have that immaculate surface you then need to rough it up to take a finish which is where a quick flick with some 180 leaves a surface for the finish to adhere to. personally i never go over 180 in grit. i may go to 220 for pieces like small boxes that are getting a lot of up close tactile use. anything over 220 is more about the person thinking they are doing great work than reality.

[@bradcofo]

I agree for MOST finishes. I've lately been using a hardwax oil finish for things that will be handled and touched a lot, and there is a MASSIVE difference between 220 and even 400. I've found that my preference for a hardwax oil is to use a finish plane, then lightly sand with 400 grit. The feel of wax on a 400 grit surface over a planed surface is something I haven't found on any other finish. To me, it feels like if glass was soft.

[@TheWebstaff]

​@@bradcofothis. I'm not a "wood worker" but I'm starting to dabble. Yeah 360 grit vs 200 I can feel the difference where I've been making things out of some old beech flooring.

[@bradcofo]

@@TheWebstaff It makes a big difference when using some finishes, if it's a penetrating finish like wax/oil. If you are using a film finish like a urethane or lacquer, 180 won't feel any different than 1000.

[@d.k.1394]

Good comment

[@Whitepaint]

That cubitron sandpaper makes it very easy.

[@jodilea144]

My husband’s hard rubber sanding blocks from his days of doing automotive paint and body work wonderfully for finish sanding my pieces. It’s the same principle- slightly flexible, but rigid enough to leave a smooth finish without uneven spots. I do like the cork block idea though! I figured out the trick of raising my piece with another board to keep a square edge quite accidentally, and only recently saw someone showing it as a “hack”…oh, how I despise what that word has come to!😁 Anyhoo, thanks for another useful video!

[@jamesheid4660]

Great video. My mindset when sanding is smooth not flat.

[@Oldbugssy]

Watching your videos and using your tips and tricks are really boosting my confidence level with wood working. Here's to keeping all of my fingers! Well, hand sanding should be safe enough.

[@egbluesuede1220]

watching you sand is more fun than watching me sand! Great tips as always!

[@0ddSavant]

@EgBlueSuede1220 - I’m not fully convinced. But, as I am a man of science, I am willing to be persuaded. Ima need you & Mr. Hamilton to come by the house where there’s a few hundred board feet I think would be perfect for convincing me. If the deck, *cough*, experiment isn’t sufficient, I’m willing to allow you additional opportunities to change my mind. Cheers!

[@wimvandenbosch6657]

Another to the point , factual , informative , no nonsense teaching video from Stumpy. Me as a very amateur with entry level tools I always learn something from this site. Thank you.

[@renoholland7090]

I picked up a used yoga mat for $1 at a garage sale and have used it many time in my woodworking projects.

[@nicholaskillmeier4895]

As a knifemaker, watching woodworkers argue about how to hand sand is hilarious. IYKYK.

[@seansopata5121]

As a finisher of thirty years, I have never had an issue doing a final sanding with an orbital.

[@RinoaL]

I just use a block of wood and sandpaper for the edges of stuff, when I don't want them so sharp.

[@chris_thornborrow]

You know there was a time when you had apprentices. Youd learn the tried and tested real methods. Now you learn 'tricks' from internet 'experts" that invariably over complicate. Then, theres Stumpy. The closest thing youtube has to apprenticeship. If only you did wood turning too!

[@jimurrata6785]

You seem to think "power sanding" only includes RO sanding. How is it that a widebelt, or even shop type drum sanders are going to be contrary to the grain??? As for hand sanding, i tend to like the softer (red) rubber sanding blocks, or foam faced plastic automotive sanding boards. They have enough flex to fair non-planar surfaces but still result in an even texture.

[@loganmartin1682]

Do people really argue with you in nasty terms about this stuff? I’m a newbie dumbus but everyone’s always been nice to me.

[@StumpyNubs]

It's the internet. People argue about everything.

[@averagejoesworkshop]

I’ve seen a ton of videos on the best sanding techniques, and you’re still only scratching the surface with this topic! 😅

[@Khazar321]

You know, my pops and me don’t really woodwork (all that much), we just sometimes need to make rough spots smooth again after working it with power tools. Be it metal, wood or even plastic. So sometimes we use a random woodblock lying around and then put sandpaper around it… I would’ve never thought; that such a random cheap quick solution, would be hailed as “the thing to do”. Sure it’s a little more professional with being glued and all, but the concept isn’t really all that different. It kinda made me giggle a little.

[@martinmand45]

Agree 100%--final sand by hand. I have a piece of 4/4 poplar I use for a sanding block. Dead square and flat all the way around, made from scrap. A layer of leather(harvested from a worn out couch, I still have a few sq ft of it) on one side. When I want a rigid block, use the bare side or edges. I just wrap the paper--sized to 1/3 of a sheet--and hold it with my fingers. Works great and essentially free, except for the sandpaper of course. I recently got a pad with velcro sized for my sander's disks, and I find myself using it more and more. Too lazy to go tear off another 1/3 of a sheet, I guess lol.

[@karlviolin]

luv ya, love your channel, so much good information with so little filler (if you know what i mean) you go stumPy yAy!!

[@actionjksn]

A lot of times I fold a 1/4 sheet and use my hand as the sanding block. I also have a small flexible block that is made for body work, it's only about a half inch thick and maybe 5x3 diameter.

[@RuneCarverLLC]

😳💁 You are really going to stir the pot with this one! 😬🙏🤞 Excellent video, and i fully agree with the hand sanding, and plz go with the grain. Can you believe I've been blackballed from some channels for suggesting this is the more correct way... and I did not even get to the hand only, soft, medium, firm, hard, whatever sanding block, topic, just booted! 😳😵‍💫🙄😬💁

[@svanteuller7928]

We always used cork for sanding blocks when we learned wood work in school in Sweden in the 60's.

[@carldavis6902]

I have like five of them different sizes and lengths I cut a groove on each side for finger grip.

[@Rebel9668]

The last "grit" I use is 0000 steel wool and as far as I know they don't make any of that stuff to fit a power tool, lol.

[@andrewj5998]

Do you have any tips for preventing hand fatigue and cramping while hand sanding or using the power sander? I use so called "anti vibration " gloves when using the random orbital and palm sanders , but they don't really help a whole lot. I wonder if I'm doing something wrong ergonomically or if it's a problem with my technique.

[@StumpyNubs]

If you are sensitive to it I recommend using the gloves, and upgrading to a high end sander like the Mirka. It's VERY expensive, but the vibration levels are low, it's profile is comfortable and it really makes sanding less of a dreaded chore. amzn.to/4brRYaS

[@fairguinevere666]

The other trick with sandpaper and glue joints is using a decently coarse grit can really make it disappear. A planed surface tends to have a slightly dark line at the joint IME, but scuff it with 120 to get it a lil fuzzy and it just goes away.

[@TomRaneyMaker]

That's a good tip and I'll have to try that. Are you using a block to keep it flat or is this by hand?

[@Withing_]

Laughing as you say things like anyone who doesnt understand is dumb is offputting. I dont have much expeirence and just came here to learn

[@StumpyNubs]

Where did I say anyone who doesn't understand is dumb?

[@Eddygeek18]

I find hand sanding with no block works perfectly fine for most applications, the sand paper itself has flexibility to it and keeping consistent pressure even with a sanding block is almost impossible when it's your imperfect human muscles doing the pressing, 1 edge usually does a bit more sanding than the opposite edge. Large areas like a table surfaces I would use a sanding block but only because it's easier to grip than the sand paper on it's own but I use a wooden block with sandpaper loosely wrapped around it, The only time I take care is when doing edges or corners that i want to remain "sharp". Do your best to make it look nice but it's not a control surface of a rocket, it doesn't need to be 99.999% flat, 98% is good enough

[@wdtaut5650]

True words again, Stump. A few years back. I found some cork sheet in one of those surplus stuff stores. I put it on the bottom of my sanding blocks for all the reasons you say. Probably not as nice as your all-cork blocks but they still work. I also have a supply of hard blocks, for all the reasons you say. 80-grit, even 100-grit, goes on the hard blocks, 180 and 220 on the cork blocks. It's not absolute, depends on the task. You can also use the cork sheet to re-surface damaged and burned trivets. If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.

[@TrustinChrist-truthseeker]

I see a fellow Red Green fan! As is the motto of possum lodge next to yours: "Duct Tape - the handyman's secret weapon." Them be some true rednecks if I ever did see one. Good to see a fellow handyman! Sincerely, JS

[@themekfrommars]

A part of me dies when I see otherwise nicely finished woodwork projects with sanding marks going across the grain!

[@d.k.1394]

I saw it tooo

[@josephpk4878]

Sanding/finishing is my favourite part of the job - nothing quite like turning a rough surface into a silky smooth surface, ready for any top coat. Take a 4x6 piece of 220, fold 1/3 of the long edge over for finger grip and gently and methodically follow the grain. Better than meditation.

[@jazzgod21]

legit question: I've never gotten the pigtails from my sander. its a cheap sander, and while i use 3m cubitron... I've never seen the pigtails. what causes them?

[@TomRaneyMaker]

Pushing too hard, moving too fast and getting debris caught between the sander and surface is what causes them for me.

[@mkplante]

Yeah, I've never gotten pigtails either, but I've mostly done soft-ish woods (pine&poplar), so not sure if that's why.

[@motorcyclelad]

They’re called “brushstrokes”. It’s the difference between an original Monet and a print. A mass produced Chinese thing or a home made piece.🤷🏼‍♂️😄

[@johnmoorefilm]

This is a superlative channel, thank you , but I have a genuine question : when was cork NOT a thing? Sometimes the internet does this to me…where I think: “hang-on, when did that thing we all knew go away so that someone on the internet could reintroduce it as a …(ahem) “hack”? Not this channel, but you now what I mean….i have a wonderful 17 year old and i am constantly trying to keep straight face when he breathlessly announces his latest hack only to be gently chided when i show him how my granddad showed me…😅

[@whanowa]

I like the knowing-better lipsmack sound you make between sentences, putting the internet trends to rest. (2:39)

[@travishanson166]

I love this channel. Either some day I will have time to do beautiful woodwork at home to enjoy, or somebody will make the mistake to ask me if I do that kind of work, and I'll say "maybe, but if I do it will be expensive " And I will pray they don't accept my astronomical bid. Lol

[@nightcatarts]

In addition to what's been said in the vid, I also used a hard sanding block to remove the arris on many of my projects. If you've got anything laminated or have pieces coming together with the grain at different angles near the edges (so most projects), a plane can always blow out the corner, whereas a sanding block never will. Plus you can round off those corners at the same time if it's a piece expected to take a beating. Edit: Oh hey, do you ever use cabinet scrapers? I don't recall them being mentioned on the channel, but they're excellent for a final pass on a fancy project.

[@MarkSWilliams27]

Yoga mat, eh Jim? Great idea. I have found the sanding mats from Rockler and other stores good, but after a few years they deteriorate and kind of get hard. And, they used to be inexpensive but now are getting high priced. Thanks for all your videos. Always informative and interesting. And, well executed.

[@royster3345]

Am I the only one that uses a curved rubber sanding block that has metal tacks under a flap front and back you simply fold each one back and pull the sandpaper over anf let the flap fall back and press the tacks through and hold the sandpaper in place. It's even sized to use an exact half of a sanding sheet. Must admit, it's old, can't remember where I got it from, but it's my go to sanding block.

[@squidcaps4308]

I love sponges. They conform to almost any shape, specially the higher grit makes wonderful finishes up to 800 grit. Even when the surface doesn't need to be very good, i still usually go thru them lightly with 400 and 800 sponge as it just gives so much better feel, it doesn't do that much but.. it just feels better and that is important.

[@ralphiewigs2208]

I've been on to cork since I saw a Tage Frid video many years ago. He used 1/4 sheets of sandpaper wrapped around the block and he would move the paper often to maintain a cutting surface. This set up is a real work horse.

[@StumpyNubs]

Legend.

[@schootingstarr]

I'm surprised that cork is something you need to mention. Over here in Germany, pretty much all sanding blocks are made of cork. I don't recall ever seeing one that wasn't cork

[@williamogilvie6909]

I have never used cork as a sanding block. I use a hard rubber sanding block sold by paint stores. I cut the sandpaper sheet into 4 strips that fit perfectly in the block. 2 sharp pins at each end hold the paper taught. I don't build furniture. Every year I strip old varnish off the teak exterior of my sailboat and apply several coats of varnish. I don't sand the wood a lot. Only enough to remove gray or black areas, if present. I don't try for a flat surface with no grain showing. When I strip old varnish off, I use a very sharp, wide flat chisel. I just slide it under the varnish. If the varnish doesn't want to go, I leave it. Almost no wood is removed. I sand it lightly with 100 grit on a flat hardwood block then start putting on varnish coats. The grain shows until I have 7 coats on. My goal is to keep the wood protected from the elements with varnish and to minimize wood loss. A furniture builder, of course, has different goals.

[@toddz8579]

I can understand doing the final sanding by hand when you stop at 220 grit, but why wouldn’t you keep going with power sanding using finer grit discs to eliminate the pigtails? For grins, I’ve used a power sander with grits up to 1500, which produced a glass-like surface in the wood. I suppose in a production shop where time is of the essence, hand sanding with 220 grit will produce an acceptable finish, but when you’re just doing hobbyist projects, a 1500-grit power sander finish is something to behold.

[@charliemopps4926]

A tip I see a lot of people miss out on is to wet the wood surface between sanding passes. When you wet the surface, it causes the wood grain on the surface to swell and stand up. It's very obvious if you actually do it... wet the surface and then touch it. It feels "hairy" When you sand, it presses those "hairs" back down into the wood. The water causes them to stand back up. I learned this from using wood dyes (as opposed to stain) because it has the same effect. So if you want your wood surface exceptionally smooth, you have to use water to pull up those hairs so you can sand them off. It's just a very lite coat of water... Don't get it soaked. Just wipe the surface down with a damp rag and then sand. You'll be amazed how smooth you can get it.

[@neildrd]

You earned my like at @4:52 when you correctly used "fewer" (vs. the L word). Don't know why, but that grates on me so much....esp. when pros (who talk for a living) get it wrong. Anyway, off to hand sand my 120sq.ft. oak floor project between coats of oil poly (which, BTW, I used one of those disposable behr edging pads to apply, and it worked great). Wish me luck.

[@coreygrua3271]

Years ago, I commented that James thinks and works like he has a Ph.D in wood enhancement. All these years later, Dr.Hamilton continues to amaze and please me, making my own wood journey better and better. His equivalency to an academic master is profound.

[@BrooksMoses]

The tip of using sanding blocks to square wood looks quite useful! I came up with a similar idea when I'd made some shelves with edges that were way off square, and ended up clamping a handheld belt sander on its side to some pieces of scrap laminated fiberboard to do essentially what your shooting block does but removing lots of material quickly. Never thought of doing that with a hand-sanding block, for some reason, but it makes sense.

[@RyanTaylor-pi8gq]

The good old fashioned black rubber 3m sanding block is the best I've ever used. It holds the paper remarkably well, it's easy to change, it's almost indestructible and it's only 5.95.

[@fixbertha]

If you joint and plane with good tools then very little sanding should be needed. If you are not jointing or planing then card scraper is a good option. If your stock is decent, your card is prepared properly, and your technique is good you should wind up with a ready-for-finish surface (plus no sawdust). If I do sand I use a flattened piece of hardwood (like black walnut, white oak, sugar maple). I have a variety of lengths and widths made as I needed them, and then kept for future use. They are thick enough so they don't bend (longer and wider = thicker needed). Starting grit depends on the surface. The better the surface the finer the starting grit. And I agree that flatness is not a big deal exept for larger pieces that will get a gloss finish.

[@Janduin45]

When we had wood working in school (about 25-30 years ago) we always had cork blocks for sanding. Fun fact: Wood, textile and metal working has been compulsory subjects in the Swedish school system since 1955.

[@andygallien6763]

I use whatever method is fastest, which can vary with the wood I'm using. On well-prepared stock (flat and uniform with a jointer and a planer), start as coarse as necessary with a hard block. Then work finer until the desired finish is achieved. But SOME SPECIES can be card scraped to almost a polish. Similarly, SOME SPECIES can be finished with a smoothing plane. SOME SPECIES come off the machines ready for the finest grit sandpaper. It varies. I've been woodworking for about 60 years, learned a lot from my dad and experimented a lot. I do use a random orbital sander on large surfaces as a starting point.

[@Timber2Toothpicks]

Man!!! You are seriously slowly but surely giving up my trade secrets that my instructors and my professors whispered into my ears decades ago. I mean really? BTW… I kept my belt sander. Yes I use my Stanley Bailey #5 plane, ALL of my BCT planes but a belt sander turned upside down…. Well it just works. Now the price of cork just went up. You keep going the way you are and everyone will be WAY better than me. I am just too old thats for sure.

[@Greebstreebling]

Stop using sandpaper/ abrasives altogether. Use a cabinet scraper. You do need a brain to sharpen it though, but as long as you can get over that hurdle you'll never turn back.

[@chriskennard5920]

Stumpy - I have watched every single one of your videos from the day you set out on KZbin but never commente, thus far - but you are 100% correct on this one and just about everything else you ever comment on. You know your stuff, that is clear. You haven't made your presence on this medium without that.

[@d.k.1394]

Congratulations

[@StumpyNubs]

Thanks for the nice comment, Chris!

[@dalanbronnenberg]

The only way you will see sanding imperfections from a Rotec is if you don’t use a high enough grit. I always sand to 500 with my sander occasionally to to 1000. It’s always perfect. And I never have a problem with finish uptake (probably an old wives tale). Having said that- I use a lot of soft sanding pads, but usually on profiled areas.

[@markspiezio2406]

Wife: "Honey! I got you a yoga mat and blocks. Now we can practice together!" Stumpy Nubs brain: "Hmmm... I have some ideas..."

[@MakerBoyOldBoy]

Excellent info and presentation as usual. Following the info will provide the best of modern finishing. To achieve the mastet museum collection finishes please refer to his older videos of the proper use and maintenance of Scrapers. These final finish tools leave a grain and depth clarity with residue finishes impossible to achieve with abrasives. Mr. Nubs covers the bases.

[@CMDR_Hal_Melamby]

Cork sanding blocks have been around for well over a century. My grandfather who was born in 1900 and trained as a wood machinist/joiner had several in his basement workshop.

[@thethree60five]

The longer the block for rigid sanding, the better the leveling. Just as a grater does by having a long wheelbase to level a road. I u s e a heavy ~7" piece of 3/8" steel plate. 1. This uses some gravity for pressure 2. One goes a bit slower but the amount of work done by the tool is more, so it is about as fast for a surface. 3. Works great for softening edges 4. I find the more deliberate action causes less sideways motion that rips the grain if one strokes slightly off grain.

[@HdtvTh]

All these problems can be avoided by not sanding at all. Just plane everything. There's no such thing as unplainable wood, some may require very frequent sharpening, some may even require powder steels, but 99% of woods are dead easy.

[@JimBloggins1]

Given the danger of becoming someone who debates theories online I will push forward anyhow. I am a practicing woodworker, I work with a medium sized cabinet shop and have practiced cabinetry and joinery for over a decade. While I will agree that working surfaces will never be dead flat because of different hardnesses in various woods whether summer, pith, spalted, composite edgetapes, etc I will say that flatness is the goal. Seeing changes in the plane of a surface under "raking light" as you say is a real issue for we who produce woodwork for people under commission. We however do NOT make our final, pre finish sanding by hand aside from edges, profiles and places the sander won't reach or fit. If you have a sander whether powered by electricity or air that is of quality then you should not be leaving swirls that need to be hand sanded out. Consider the dynabrade air sanders every shop used for many years. We use Mirka 3/16" sanders and we know that we don't further sand the surface past 180 grit. We do not use excessive force; we allow the weight of the sander to do the work along with ensuring the sander does not move erratically and this produces a generally flat and uniform surface. Often as in a cabinet shop but also in many small shops woodworkers deal with 5 piece doors where sanding by hand produces cross-grain scratching where rails meet stiles. This is unacceptable in our line of work and so the sander is used to produce scratches of a random nature. If done right you will not see swirls and no hand sanding is necessary. We even use sanders to sand between our seal coat and top coat of finish regardless of whether it is a solid colour(pigmented finish) or a clear. We typically use 320 or 400 grit dependant on the topcoat requirement. Where our hands contact the wood for sanding is on profiles shapes and generally nowhere else. Whether or not to use a hardwood block or a soft, foam block I'm sure can be debated to the end of time. For us, if we know a surface has more than one level of hardness due to intermixed materials or special surfaces like spalted woods we often use a harder block while a foam block might be used for more general sanding should it actually need it. When it comes to branding, I'm sure everyone on the internet shouting about Festool will be the loudest but consider that for many many years high production shops have used sketchy and high powered pneumatic sanders before all these fancy electric ones arrived on the market. Content creators will often push Festool products in a hipster-like fashion while there are other brands that do a fantastic job, like Mirka or even 3m or Dynabrade. Sure, the equipment makes a difference because it can help you to find the same techniques quicker but nothing beats long practiced experience and someone who has done woodwork for many years can produce fine results using janky and old equipment; look to many small or medium shops that are cheap when it comes to equipment but expensive when it comes to results. One last note, you pushed Bridge City Tools in the past with a fervor. We recently purchased a set of their small planes for our employees(we do this every Christmas, giving higher end tools as gifts) and were upset to discover the planes were made in China. We are aware that some of their very high end tools are still made in the States but this was saddening to find out that much of their "entry level" but still very expensive tools are manufactured where the majority of low grade garbage is made. For the level of investment in quality tools this is unfortunate. Thankfully some manufacturers of higher end tools like Narex still produce their wares in the places they are located and we use their products regularly.

[@Simon_Jakle__almost_real_name]

To me it turns out dis-illusion-izing how far "that James" has to lean out of the window of explaination, to clearify his points of view to his audience, as if half or the woodworking processes were "added up" in plastics or something, almost like getting told through soft power to stay used to electric tools, not keeping the skills of doing work by hand alive. But in forests of switzerland, when you lumber perhaps every twenty years, the money you would/wood get from the stems is hardly suficient to pay the woodchopper, and then they cut the stem parts too short too often so they can be moved easier, but where are the 5 metre or 10 metre parts for a beam or a prop? we need to get them from austria. Specialists just push their lobbies "concepts" through, due to the lack of the honest and the mindful, making me dislike "the ape in me". Why can't most of todays people/sheeple believe in wood? what's "too demanding to fathom" about?

[@hogthrob]

I still have the cork sanding block I inherited from my father. It's at least 60 years old.

[@d.k.1394]

Lovely

[@JimRimS4S]

I believe you should not over 220 and always finish by hand. I find 180 is good enough. Super fine grit polishes the wood and if you want scratches use a hard rigid sanding block. Using a hard block can cause big scratches where the paper folds over the block. Remember when using a power sander, moving it fast does not get the job done faster.

[@theredstormer8078]

Using rigid sanding blocks in anything but a coarse grit on a flat surface never works for me. I just thought maybe I was doing it wrong or my 2x4s were warped but it always just builds up in a few spots on the block and stops working. The block has gotta give enough to let the rest of the sandpaper do something. I'll have to try cork sometime like you said.

[@rabiatorthegreat6163]

2:00 Directly after the "corrective" sanding the board may well be perfectly flat. But the wood won't stop flexing, for lack of a better word. A few days later it might have warped the other direction. Now you have done more damage that you hoped to fix. That's one reason why I would not expect great precision from wood - if you need that, work with metal.

[@youboobnameisbailey]

Get a 5” disk (Velcro) that will fit a drill or angle grinder. For trueing up edges use a bench plane with the blade retracted (or removed) with 3M spray adhesive (temp kind) and cut conventional strips to fit.

[@davidakridge2831]

I see at the bottom of the cork blocks on Amazon it frequently bought with 220 grit adhesive backed sandpaper. LOL!!!

[@G.I.JeffsWorkbench]

Great knowledge (as always). A seemingly ho hum topic, until you apply your finish as you said. Thanks again James, for your commitment to making us better makers.

[@omf2007]

In Jr high and HS shop class we had planers, drum sanders, hand sanders, surface machines and everything you could want to make sanding easier. We sanded everything by hand from start to finish up until the last few advanced classes. And everything was still finished by hand. The lesson being, you can have all the fancy gadgets for sanding you want but nothing will take the place of hand sanding as a final finishing step if you want a pro finish. Thank you for the great video!

[@seth094978]

I use fine sandpaper on rigid blocks all the time, but I work with metal! I can't imagine doing that with wood. 600 grit on polished granite will definitely produce a flat, shiny surface, but it takes like an hour to remove literally a tenth of a hair's thickness.

[@edwardchester1]

Worth bearing in mind that the actual deformability of cork in a thick block when your force is spread over the large area of its flat surface results in minimal ability to adjust to the undulations in a large flat piece of wood - just think how difficult it is to squeeze even a dmall piece of cork like a wine cork. You'd need something quite a bit softer than cork for it to really be able to adjust to flat areas, i.e. those foam sanding blocks. Cork is a nice compromise, though, of providijg a tiny bit of deformability for flat areas but being rigid enough to help smooth out those areas as well as hold its shape for sanding finer parts (moulding etc). It's also soft enough that if your piece is small or not super flat (say, a table leg with slightly rounded off corners) it can deform just enough to be able to sand the whole thing.

[@FirstLastOne]

0:54 NOT just wood but ANY surface you intend to paint/stain and clear coat. The IDIOTS repairing stone damage to my car's hood from a dump truck's unsecured load used a random orbital sander and didn't bother to fine hand sand after. Now after I go and fine polish the clear coat, you can see all the random orbital sanding marks trapped under the clear coat in the paint layer.

[@drfill9210]

I'm using the speech to text generator which sometimes messes the words up.I love your stuff mate but I make things. I don't necessarily craft them if I get a finish just remotely good. I'm OK with there today in sometimes I do the final finish with an angle grinder or a bench grinder, that's how cool it is, and it's long as you get something that's functional, it's fine, but I think that you're kind of going for something that really brings. Out the texture of the wood I suppose.

[@kernelpickle]

For small stuff that you can easily hold in your hand, I’ve just stuck the paper down to the table so I could really square up or flatten a block. If I don’t have double stick tape on hand I’ll just sacrifice a little bit around the edges and just tape it down that way. If you want to get an insanely precise and flat surface, you can use the same technique used for lapping (CPUs or blocks of coolers for example to make sure you get the best heat transfer). The trick used for those is to use glass as the table surface you place the sandpaper. Obviously not very practical for larger stuff, but if you could get literal rolls of the stuff, you could probably build a sweet sanding table out of an old glass topped desk, or table. I’ve never built anything as large as a table or chair, but if you had the space to setup a large chunk of glass on a level floor-you could just stick down four pieces of sandpaper so you can get all four corners, and you can probably move your piece around on those in a small circles to really level the feet. However, that would then introduce the issue of being so flat it won’t sit right on any floor because no non-glass floor is ever going to be perfectly flat.

[@peteredwards2318]

Just a response to the title... No. No, I don't think I will, and here's why. Wooden things aren't engineering flat and don't ever need to be. Metal things need that level of precision, wooden things simply do not. A little surface imperfection simply does not and never will matter in a wooden work. Its not important. Does the thing go together and stay that way? Then its fine. It's furniture, not machinery, and therefore precision surfaces are irrelevant. If it has to be flat, then it has to be metal, where your efforts in precision are worth making. If it doesn't matter, make it out of wood.