The D&S Scary Sharp system originates from a post on the usenet group rec.woodworking, although the method itself probably predates WWII: with a piece of plate glass and progressively finer grits of sandpaper, you can hone your tool to an edge a professional sharpener would envy — without messy oil or water.  And if you don’t have the materials on hand, Rockler sells a kit with everything you need to get started for just $30.

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Here’s another fun scroll saw attachment you may not have tried: scroll saw files.  These “filing blades” dramatically reduce the frustration and time it takes to produce a complex pattern by automating detail sanding and shaping.  And because of their silicon carbide coating, you can use them in a variety of materials.

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If you’ve ever been frustrated trying to smooth out your rough scrollsaw cuts – or other cramped edges – scroll saw sander belts can provide some relief.  They’re flexible, cloth-backed sanders that attach to most scroll saws and hug the edge of your cuts, sanding without flattening or gouging wood as rigid-backed abrasives can.

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Unlike most “contour sanders” which can change the shape of the material as you work, this one holds sandpaper in exactly the profile you set.  It works just like a contour gauge, but with sheets instead of pins so it can support sandpaper.

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Sometimes you can get away with slicing off a thin piece of sandpaper and folding it up to fit into narrow spaces when detail sanding, but what you really need is abrasive cord.  It’s already round — which means no folding — and it’s much stronger than thin strips of sandpaper.  It’s cheap, too.

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Here’s a refurbished Porter Cable profile sander for $37 over at Tool-Plus.  It’s fairly basic in its features: it’s got a 120V 1.8A single speed motor delivering 6,000 strokes per minute, and it accepts standard-holed hook-and-loop paper.  Even if you’re not a seasoned woodworker, you really don’t need much of an excuse to pick one of these up for $37.

Profile Sander [Porter Cable]
Refurb Profile Sander [Tool Plus]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

Hazy plastic headlights just scream “worn out,” and often make an otherwise-well-cared-for ride look down-and-out.  Here’s the cure: a restoration kit that lets you polish away the fog to better light night roads and lop years of your aging car.

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From the maker of the Robo-Sander (which we covered a while back) comes this drill-press-driven precision thickness sander targeted toward instrument makers.  Not surprisingly, it’s called “The Luthier’s Friend.”

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Mac tools announced an addition to their line likely to please the auto-body crowd: a 5″ wet-sanding block with a 14′ supply hose and a valve that allows you to control water flow right at the block.  They’ll also offer larger versions.  As always, check out their website — where it’ll appear soon — for details, or better yet contact your local truck-based distributor.

Harbor Freight is offering this gravity feed blaster gun for $10 right now.  I don’t really need one, but at this price I’ll probably pick one up just for the hell of it.  The Central Pneumatic #93321 features a 9-ounce hopper, a 5 mm nozzle, and demands a max air pressure of 90 PSI and a volume of 1.7 CFM.

Gravity Feed Blaster Gun [Harbor Freight]

We have a crappy little blast box that we occasionally use around the TM shop, but this is what we really want: a 46″ wide x 34″ deep x 36″ high cabinet made of 14-gauge steel with a foot-pedal-operated gun and a 250-300 CFM dust collection system.  This is the real deal, and I want one.

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Here’s another palm sander find from Amazon: this Black & Decker MS1000 Cyclone 1.4 amp orbital 4-in-1 multi-sander was listed at $87, but they’re now selling it for $28.28. Its interchangeable bases include a Random orbit sander, a detail sander, a finish sander, and a flush sander. It’s also got a 1.4 amp motor and a dust collection bag.

Black & Decker MS1000 [Black & Decker]
Via Amazon [What's this?]
Street Pricing [Google Product Search]

Springtime means dragging the gardening tools out from their winter hideaway and returning them to service.  Occasionally the last project of the year — and the multi-month cold storage — leaves ‘em with a rusty blemish or two to show for it.  That’s where rust erasers come in handy. 

They look and probably function a lot like a pliable foam sanding block.  (In fact, that’s pretty much what they are.)  A few minutes of wailing on the tool in question and mud, dirt, and light rust will come right off.

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Here’s another piece of kit we came to love this week: good sandpaper.  We picked up some of Norton’s 800, 1200, 1500, and 2000 grit SandWet product from the paint shop after they got done laughing at our rattle-can project. 

The real winner here, though, is the 2000 grit.  It offers a totally different level of control from the 320 grit you find at the big-box stores.  We were even able to make some minor repairs on a clear-coated finish, then add just a little clear to cover up the work.

The SandWet works for either wet or dry sanding — a function of the material used for the backing paper — and it’s great to have in the shop.  Like I said, we picked up the other grits while we were there so we’ve got a variety to work with.

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Eli writes: “I have a plastic file box I bought at Staples.  It’s about a foot square, filled with hanging folders.  When I grew out of it and started shredding my phone bills instead of saving them for four years — I still don’t know why I did that — I was too thrifty to just throw it out.  So it sat on my workbench for a while.

“Then I started putting stuff in it: all my sandpaper and disks, all my tool manuals and warranties, the random hardware catalog.  All the tabbed folders got relabeled with grit numbers.  Instead of trying to paw through a bunch of boxes for sanding disks,  I just pull the folder halfway out and they’re exposed.  It’s the same with paper.  And there’s room under the lid for a sanding block, always ready.”

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Eli writes: “If you need to refinish a kitchen full of raised panel doors, an orbital sander is often overkill.  All you need to do is rough up the surface, and a sanding block lets you hit every surface. 3M’s SandBlaster has inserts that lasted me through 27 doors and 11 drawers – a pretty average size kitchen.  I used two pads.  Buy two extra packs of sanding inserts for this job; They come two to a package, and that way you’ll have plenty for the job and refills for the next job.  And remember, even if you paint over wood, you want to brush out the grain.  Roller marks look weird over wood grain.”

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Wet sanding can your ride’s paint job from “also ran” to “show stopper,” but if you’re not careful you can end up with irregular deep scratches that take you right back to square one.  Norton Automotive claims that unique shaping of the aluminum oxide heat-treated grain on their Black Ice sandpaper provides a more consistent cut, which means less accidental deep scratches, more uniform finish, and less re-sanding.

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