Sander interface pad guide: follow contours better The first time I tried to refinish a vintage guitar body with tight belly cuts and arm contours, I did what most of us do: I slapped a fresh disc on my random-orbit sander and went to town. …
Cork vs Rubber Sanding Block: Even Pressure, Better Finish You feel it before you see it: the drag of abrasive across primer, the subtle chatter in your wrist, the way dust plumes differently at the edge than it does in the center. The …
Random Orbital Sanding: Choose the Right Orbit Size It’s early, coffee is hot, and the workshop has that quiet hum before saws and vacs kick off. On the bench sits a maple tabletop you’ve been coaxing toward a flawless finish all week. You …
Metal Surface Sanding: Scratch Control Before Primer The evening a panel is finally quiet is when the real work begins. You kill the grinder, and suddenly it’s just you, a breath of solvent in the air, and sheet metal that shows …
Primer Sanding Grits for Epoxy Before Filler or Sealer Saturday morning, the garage door yawns open and the light falls across your project—maybe it’s the fender you’ve wrestled straight after months of small fixes, or a truck hood you …
Level 4 vs Level 5 Wall Finishing Explained Even before the paint dries, the room tells you what you need to know. You step into a newly built living room at dusk. The pendant over the kitchen island throws a narrow cone; the western window …
Baseboard Sanding: Pro Workflow for Repainting Rooms The moment you move furniture, pull the drapes, and really look at your trim under morning light, the baseboards tell the story of the room. Years of shoes grazing the quarter round, …
Hand Sanding With the Grain: Direction That Wins The first pass across the old walnut dresser felt almost sacrilegious. Early light from the shop window caught the cathedral patterns in the veneer and made the scratches I’d inherited glow …
Choosing Ceramic vs Silicon Carbide Sandpaper You can hear it before you see it: the sander spins up, the deck light pools across a panel, and the first passes scratch a story into the surface. On a chilly Saturday morning, I’m in a small …
Boat Sanding: Wet Techniques to Control Marine Dust There’s a particular quiet to the yard before sunrise. The halyards ping, the coffee steams in a chipped thermos, and the hull you’ve been avoiding stands there like a promise you can’t …