Hand sanding tools and techniques

[GWB]

I have sanded a fair bit of my boat with my RA porter cable tool. Of course, there are areas I cannot get to with the power tool such as at the cabin/deck juncture, close to hawse pipe through bulwark fittings and such.
When I go to hand sand those areas, I was thinking about getting a fairly dense foam sponge with adhesive backed paper or something like that to get to the radiused areas.
Anybody been there done that? Just using my fingers makes me realise I'm not as tough as I used to be 20 years ago when I was a Marine :)

It took 8 hours to sand off some paint on the forward part of the deck that the previous owner had applied. Brutal!

[the1much]

they make foam blocks,,,bout 3 inch i think,,or 3 1/2 ,,,and is this the boat in previous thread?,,if so,,,are you worried bout fairness,,and final look after ya paint?,,cause the only ONLY time ya should use your fingers is at radius (inside) intersection, or a spot to small for your soft block.,,if you use those sponges,,they use up fast,,and for some reason will always leave gouges in radius's,,,and theres bout 12 more paragraphs of typing to explain how to sand radius's the "right" way hehe ;)

[tinhorn]

I've used those hard rubber sanding blocks when I had to hand-sand. When I had to sand a radius, I'd use a router to make myself a little sanding block to wrap the paper around.

[GWB]

Yeah Jim - same boat.

I have some production 5" paper with adhesive backing that I can stick to the foam block. Maybe I could cut the block to fit the profile....

The technique I'm planning on using is long strokes along the groove.

This is the initial 80 grit sand before I apply primer. After that I plan to use 220 for a finish sand before applying the topcoat.

Yes, I want it to look good!

[the1much]

hehe,,glad you want it to look good,,,so now i wont think im wasting your time,,,errr,mine,,,someones ;),,,my best advice on radius is them foam blocks,,and you can use sticky back da paper with em,,just line up ya front and back,,then wrap the sides up and to the handle,,,and unless the radius is in REALLY bad shape,,id start with the 220, and skip the 80,,,radius's are gonna be 1 (of about 3874) challenges sanding,,is a GREAT place to get gouges not seen UNTIL that final paint coat hehe ;)
and when you sand a radius,,dont sand along it,,you need to sand in a diagnal ,,both ways,,,and i say do your hand sanding FIRST,,,then do your da sanding,,that way your da sanding covers as much of the hand sanding as possible.,,o.k.,,,,thats my diary fer the nite,,hehe ;)

[Tug]

What i have done in the past when confronted with a complicated profile to sand...
I take a piece of rough grit sand paper and tape/staple it to the profile with the rough side out.....then i take a block of blue styrofoam and sand the profile into the block...
Thus giving you a perfect profile styrofoam sanding block to instant glue your sand paper too...
Hope this helps...
Cheers
Tug

[the1much]

dats a good quickie,,,nice 1 tug hehe ;)

[alan white]

Paint is much harder than wood. Use a stripper in those areas and hand sanding will go far easier.

Alan

[the1much]

what kind of stripper would ya use alan? (in 20 some odd years i've never used the stuff hehe ;) ,,im thinking my bosses were EVIL
hehe ;) and then theres just my plain stubbornness ;) i guess im like those "plant" workers worried about losing their job to a robot hehe ;)

[wet feet]

Some of you fellows seem to like sanding radii the hard way.I find it much easier to locate a piece of rubber tube of around the right size and wrap a piece of sandpaper round it.The hose might be acetylene hose,radiator hose or fibre reinforced flexible plumbing hose,it all works but how well depends on the person driving it.

[the1much]

doing what seems to be the easy way,, and getting something round,,is,,you tend to sand along the radius,,thus making distinct gouges,,unlike sanding the right way and coming out with a great paint job,,its this way for foam, wood,rubber,,anything,,the correct way is to use a "soft" sanding block and sanding in diagonals,,that way the WHOLE radius is exactly the same from beginning to end

[alan white]

what kind of stripper would ya use alan? (in 20 some odd years i've never used the stuff hehe ;) ,,im thinking my bosses were EVIL
hehe ;) and then theres just my plain stubbornness ;) i guess im like those "plant" workers worried about losing their job to a robot hehe ;)

I use Zip strip or something similar. I find that strippers even remove (manufactured) stains from wood. Sanding through paint means paint dust in the air (and onto everything in the shop).
I like using cabinet scrapers if the wood is hard (can't do softwoods).
A sharp cabinet scraper works well on painted surfaces too. Using the rectangular type of scraper well is an art. Such a short tool doesn't fair like sandpaper unless you switch angles (45 degrees right, then 45 degrees right, etc., thereby crossing the ridges created by the last pass.
There are a thousand ways to take wood down, and I've used all sorts of devices and tools over the years. I shape spars with a cut sanding belt cut and wrapped around the spar at a 45 degree angle--- then reverse, kind of a spiral crossing a spiral.
I did a parquet floor recently and the glued one foot squares all absorbed a little moisture from the latex glue. Each square was a tiny bit dished and so I rented a sander (17" disc) to level the high spots.
That sander didn't level the humps and neither did the big orbiting floor sander i tried next.
Finally I grabbed the Stanley No. 8 from the shop ( a very large and long plane). I easily levelled the 150 sq. ft. floor with that and then sanded, finally levelling the oak perfectly. Always a way.

Alan