Sandpaper

[TorqueDirty]

OK folks, help me out here.

I'm spending a bit of time restoring old wood working tools at the moment. I'm enjoying it and they are not too expensive to buy when they are all rusted up.

Thing is I keep buying sand paper that turns out to be absolute st. The last lot just disintegrates as soon as I start using it.

I know 3m stuff is pretty good but are there any other makes that are good value and long lasting?

I'd be looking for a range between 180 and up to say 800, although 600 would probably do. I have got a fair bit of much finer stuff if I need it.

Ta in advance.

Edited by TorqueDirty on Saturday 13th December 10:19

[loughran]

I use Mirka Jepuflex in 80 and 120 and Mirka Caratflex for 240 and 400. Excellent sandpapers but I buy them in 50m rolls. Not sure if you can buy the product in smaller amounts.

[Simpo Two]

Good sandpaper is well worth paying for. It cuts better and lasts much longer than the ones which are just sand and glue.

My current favourite is aluminium oxide resin bond paper, 240 grit. It doesn't have a name but is light grey in colour if that helps you find it.
I also have rolls of Hermes paper in three grades.

You can give often give clogged sandpaper a new lease of life by knocking it (on a block) on the edge of the bench to get the dust out.

[JoshSm]

Do you need paper or would sanding blocks do too? I bought a lot of Festool ones, in part because they were really cheap. Last well and you can wash them to unclog them (other brands not very happy getting wet).

Otherwise rolls of oxide paper for the rougher grades and sheets for the finest stuff.

If it's for stripping rust from tools personally I prefer to do that chemically and save the abrasives for finishing.

[Atheda]

It's a long time since I have done any of this. Is emery cloth still available ? Was always much better than sand paper and could be used with various lubricants to polish up. By better, it had a cloth base, not paper, so would last longer and with good flexibility.

[TorqueDirty]

loughran said:

I use Mirka Jepuflex in 80 and 120 and Mirka Caratflex for 240 and 400. Excellent sandpapers but I buy them in 50m rolls. Not sure if you can buy the product in smaller amounts.

Thanks for that. I found the Cartaflex in 180, 240 and 400 - all in 5m rolls (about £7 per roll) so took the punt and ordered them.

[Simpo Two]

Atheda said:

It's a long time since I have done any of this. Is emery cloth still available ? Was always much better than sand paper and could be used with various lubricants to polish up.

On wood?

[Arnold Cunningham]

I only use 3M. Got tired of being disappointed with other brands I tried.

[psi310398]

3M and Mirka are my go-tos.

[Super Sonic]

Simpo Two said:

Atheda said:

It's a long time since I have done any of this. Is emery cloth still available ? Was always much better than sand paper and could be used with various lubricants to polish up.

On wood?

On rusty woodworking tools.

[richhead]

For rusty metal my goto for the first go would be a bench grinder with a wire wheel on it. And a grinding stone on the other wheel for sharpening.

[dhutch]

psi310398 said:

Mirka are my go

Same for a good sandpaper. Available at Toolstation.

Norton is another reasonable brand thats avaliable at TS and Screwfix.


But I also agree that for woodworking tools you want to be looking at emery paper, or even emery cloth.

Wirewool can also be very useful for removing light surface rust.

Edited by dhutch on Saturday 13th December 19:52

[Atheda]

Simpo Two said:

On wood?

See OP's original post. I think you will find he refers to rust. I haven't noticed much of that on wood

[mdw]

I think lubrisil was a brand we used years ago re polishing pianos. It didn't clog up with the old finish so lasted longer. I've seen something similar in wicks, light grey colour.

[TorqueDirty]

Atheda said:

See OP's original post. I think you will find he refers to rust. I haven't noticed much of that on wood

Need to do the wood handles on my hand planes too so it is for both.

[allegro]

wouldn't even bother with sandpaper unless the tool has a wooden section. I would give them a general scrub with washing up liquid to remove any grease then dunk them in a citric acid bath for a day. Rust gone, cheap as chips and perfectly safe!

[Simpo Two]

Super Sonic said:

On rusty woodworking tools.

Ah yes of course. I think I'd try a wire brush for rusty metal.

The wood parts won't need sanding, just cleaning and polishing.

[JoshSm]

allegro said:

wouldn't even bother with sandpaper unless the tool has a wooden section. I would give them a general scrub with washing up liquid to remove any grease then dunk them in a citric acid bath for a day. Rust gone, cheap as chips and perfectly safe!

Got to be slightly careful with citric, it eats iron which is why it's good for passivating stainless. Cleans & passivates copper too if you ever need to do that. On steel citric seems to like stripping the iron and leaving the carbon behind. It certainly works for stripping rust but needs care on anything where you don't want to lose metal.

Phosphoric at least is self limiting but apparently can have issues with hardened steel cracking.

For degreasing use degreaser, washing up liquid isn't ideal.