Abrasive Testing: Compare Scratch Depth at Equal Grits It starts the same way in every shop: coffee cooling on the bench, clamp marks still fresh on yesterday’s glue-up, and a stack of sandpaper cut into tidy quarters. You grab two …
Open Coat Sandpaper, Paper Weight, and Flexibility Saturday morning, mug of coffee steaming on the bench. The shop is still cool, and the only sound is your block plane sliding across a maple board. You’re smoothing a reclaimed slab into a …
Silicon Carbide Sandpaper: Cut Rate and Loading Saturday morning in the garage, the air smelled faintly of cut clear coat and soapy water. A half-finished motorcycle tank sat on a foam cradle, its orange peel and dust nibs highlighted by a …
Glass Sanding: Keep Surfaces Wet to Control Heat You know that afternoon light that hits your workshop just right—sawdust floating like golden confetti, the radio low, a mug ring etched into the bench? That’s where precision starts for me. …
Flush Slurry with Wet Dry Sandpaper for Clean Cuts The first time I noticed loading, I was hunched over a maple cutting board in a chilly garage, chasing a glass-smooth finish that never seemed to arrive. The sandpaper was supposed to be …
Ceramic Sanding Discs for Cooler, Cleaner Cuts Late on a Saturday, the garage hums like a small factory. The goal is modest—deburr a few stainless brackets, flatten a maple cutting board, and knock down drips on a fiberglass canoe …
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. …
between coats sanding: remove dust nibs in clear coats A flawless clear coat is more than gloss; it’s the tactile confidence you feel when your hand glides across a panel with zero grit or drag. If you’ve ever stepped back from a gorgeous …
Paint polishing: compound vs polish for clear coat A Saturday morning sun can be the most unforgiving inspector you’ll ever meet. You back the car out after a late-night respray—coffee in hand, optimism high—and the light slices across the …
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 …