While doing the yearly maintenance on your lawnmower like a good Toolmonger, you pull the spark plug and discover it’s covered in crud. While replacing the plug is a fine idea, you might save a little dough and a trip to the store by cleaning it and using it for another year. And though you could clean the plug with a little elbow grease, why do it the hard way when this cheap-ass pneumatic spark plug cleaner’ll do the job for you?

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No, the WASP Sander isn’t designed for White Anglo-Saxon Protestants — it’s an innovative attachment for your drill press. This tool turns your drill press into a belt sander, a drum sander, a floppy belt sander, a flat belt sander, or a curved belt sander, depending on how you configure it.

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Don’t call this diminutive belt sander a toy. Like all of Proxxon’s power tools, they designed their block belt sander for smaller projects and detail work. Though it weighs in at just 1-1/2 lbs, this little belt sander can chew through ferrous and non-ferrous metals, wood, and plastic almost as well as its larger cousins.

A quiet 1/5 HP motor drives the belt on this little powerhouse up to 525 ft/min. Proxxon manufactures the housing from fiberglass-reinforced polyamide, with a hole in the housing that can accommodate a screw clamp, turning the tool into a stationary belt sander.

With its 1-1/2″ wide aluminum oxide sanding belt, the block belt sander sports a total sanding surface of 1-1/2″ by 2-3/8″. A finely adjustable spring-clamping system secures the belt and makes changing belts a tool-less operation. The belt sits flush to the left side of the sander for sanding all the way into corners.

You’ll pay $150 to own this fine little belt sander. For that price, you’ll also get five 120-grit belts, five 240-grit belts, and a stationary screw clamp, all packed in a high-quality polypropylene storage case. You can get additional belts in 80, 120, 180, and 240 grits.

Proxxon [Corporate Site]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
VIa Amazon [What’s This?]

When you hear die grinder, you probably think of a small tool that you operate one-handed — and with most die grinders you’d be right. But the Dynabrade 8″ extension grinder could grind that perception right out of your head. The 8″ extension grinder grinds metal like your average die grinder, but the handle has grown eight inches. It gives the tool a greater reach, but more importantly it gives you more leverage, because the standard one-handed tool has become a two-handed grinding machine.

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Whether you’re an aircraft mechanic, auto mechanic, welder, or DIYer, you’ll eventually need to grind or sand some metal. But what happens when your angle grinder doesn’t offer the finesse you need for a small, intricate job? What happens when you need to get into a hard-to-reach area? Here’s a solution that takes advantage of a tool you already have — 3M’s Roloc drill-mounted grinding/sanding/finishing system.

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Nick’s post and the discussion on the scratching capabilities of Scotch-Brite pads made me think of what I use for scratch removal. Novus has been making polish for acrylics for over 25 years — their three-part system can handle almost all but the most severe scratches. I’ve used it to polish museum display cases, and even some glass, with excellent results.

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Scotch-Brite abrasive pads work great to put a brushed finish on some of the jewelry I make. Recently I decided to be a bit more scientific — I bought four types, with different degrees of fineness. I used a copper sheet for the quick test. Sterling would’ve been better, but I can’t afford to sacrifice that much to science.

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Sanding usually stands out as my least favorite part of a project — I’m sure I’m not alone. And though sanding flat surfaces is bad enough, the tedious detail work can really kill me. These handy little sanding sticks from Excel Hobby Blade aim to make detail sanding a little easier.

A belt of sandpaper wraps around the 6-1/4″ sanding stick, which is made of impact resistant plastic. The belt rotates to keep fresh sandpaper where you need it — at the taper, the flat sides, or the rounded end. A spring-loaded tensioner keeps the 1/4″ x 12-3/4″ belt in position and makes the belt easy to remove and replace. You can use the aluminum oxide belts for either wet or dry sanding.

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I came very close to buying this belt sander last weekend at the big box, but I’m glad I waited, since I found it at Ace Tool online for $99. This 5-pound sander — more of a palm belt sander, really — uses smaller 2-1/2″ x 14″ belt paper for scribing, chamfering, edge sanding, or preparing a small surface.

Overmolded rubber surfaces make it easy to grip in multiple positions, and a 5A motor delivers ample power for sanding hardwoods. The sander also features a removable dust port, a removable handle, and a flush side for sanding in tight areas, up to 90-degrees.  Note: you can get refurbished models for about $10 less.

Belt Sander [Delta Porter Cable]
Belt Sander [Ace Online Tools]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

One of my favorite tools, the angle grinder oozes testosterone, with its metal-grinding noise and showers of sparks. This Makita 18V cordless LXT lithium-ion grinder offers the same macho experience, except it’s smaller at 12″ in length, lightweight at 5.4 lbs., and portable with its 18V lithium-ion power-pack.

The included Makita Optimum Charger charges the battery in 45 minutes — it also communicates with the battery to optimize the charge and increase the battery’s life by 280%. The battery powers the grinder to 10,000 RPM. The grinder features a built-in overload protector and a sliding power switch with lock-on.

Makita protects the tool with a three year warranty and covers the battery with a one year warranty. All2ools is selling the grinder for $310.

BGA452 Angle Grinder [Makita]
Makita BGA452 [All2ools]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

With water-based finishes becoming more and more common, it pays to be prudent in your choice of abrasives. For instance, you don’t want to use steel wool on a water-based finish unless you’re a big fan of rust stains.  Luckily, synthetic non-woven finishing pads are gaining in popularity — they don’t share the shortcomings of traditional abrasives.

The non-woven pads won’t shed abrasive particles onto the finish, meaning less prep work before your next coat. And you can wash the longer-lasting synthetic pads, renewing the cutting surface by removing dust and debris.

You can get them in different “grits” for about $1 a pad.

Synthetic Finishing Pads [Rockler]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon(B000H570E2) [What’s This?]

Knife-sharpening confuses the hell out of me — there are so many old wives tales, half-truths, and rules of thumb offering contradictory advice on how to do it.  Luckily the Lansky Knife Sharpening System takes the guesswork out of putting a sharp, safe edge on a blade.

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Engine turning (also known as damascening, jeweling, krayling, or swirling) has long been associated with fine metalworking.  Whatever you call it, it’s a great way to add some bling to your project.  The process consists of using a spinning abrasive cylinder to make dazzling 3-D looking patterns on polished metal. You can see examples of the technique on everything from antique handmade pocket watches to retro hotrod parts.  If you want to try it yourself, Eastwood offers 1″ and 1/2″ kits that can be used with any drill press.

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Ingersoll Rand is well known for their line of pro-level pneumatic tools. But they’ve made a name for themselves with impact drivers of all types. So when these guys come out with a line of cordless tools that includes high-powered wrenches and ratchets as well as drills and grinders – we noticed.

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Sean posted about these Microplane sanding discs back in May 2006, and now they’re on sale: Microplane is currently offering a 3-pack for listed for just $13.95. The 3-pack includes a coarse 40-grit, medium 80-grit and fine-120 sanding disc. Microplane claims that each disc is equal to about 35 sheets of regular sandpaper and’ll work perfectly for sanding bare wood projects like doors, furniture, and fencing. 

These discs fit a regular 5″ orbital sander and includes matching hole patterns.

3-Pack Sanding Discs [Microplane]
Street Pricing [Google Product]

A ten inch disk sander’ll lighten your wallet at least $150. So why not turn your table saw into a disk sander for under $35 instead with CMT’s balance blade and sanding disk? Their disk mounts to saws with a standard 5/8 inch arbor and utilizes standard self-stick sanding disks. Sounds to me like a great way to pocket over a hundred bucks and gain valuable shop space.

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Using fresh sandpaper – particularly sanding belts and discs – can be a joy. But once they get clogged up with pitch and loose sandpaper grit it’s miserable. And if you’re making fine furniture, it can ruin your work as well. Woodstock International’s Pro Stik abrasive cleaner sticks are basically formulated from crepe rubber that easily removes the built up gunk on your favorite abrasive belts and discs.

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