Personal Reckoning

Donna was going to put a fresh coat of Cetol on the weather boards (slats, crib boards) and asked me for some sandpaper. On seeing my offering she said, "What?! Only two sheets? And they're used!" Sez I, "One of them came off the pad sander and some of it has never been used. There's lots of good grit on those."
Apparently I'm a sandpaper nazi.

Aha. I thought I was the last to discover "sandpaper cleaning stick." It's a giant eraser, which also works on paper.

Used to remove clogged grit, especially on sanding belts. Works, or helps.

Yup, I have saved way too much "used" sand paper. It's hard to toss it out when it sorta kinda still has some grit on it.

Data Point: when working with a pro ship wright on our re-fit, I noticed that he replaced sand paper the minute it started getting smooth. He said that labor time is a lot more expensive than paper and he tries to buy the better grades of all abrasives. He values his own time as much or more than billed-out time. He does have a small bucket with used paper that is smoothed some but not torn-- but still useful for quickly touching up parts and edges.

One lesson I learned about many facets of boat work was that tools and "consumables" are much less expensive than time and that the effort to use dull "abrasives" is wasted time. (I used to waste time that way.)

That ten months we spent in the shop was sort of a Graduate Level Class in Boat Repair. The money I spent was sort of... "tuition"....

Regarding Christian's "eraser", oh so true! I have one for a stationary belt and disk sander and it does help quite a bit.

@Christian Williams - Ya know, I've got one of those for my bench mount belt sander. But it just never occurred to me to try it on static sandpaper. Can't wait to give it a shot. But, Donna's not going to like you for it.

@Loren Beach - She had a long career in senior management for a defense contractor and that is exactly the case she makes. I'm extremely blessed to have a great life and boating partner, so am learning to yield. Though it cuts cross grain to my thrifty Iowa rural roots. I was just reminiscing with my siblings of when my dad would demo a building and save all the 'good' nails. He'd give them to us kids to straighten out. Lower labor rate.

Loren Beach said:

Data Point: when working with a pro ship wright on our re-fit, I noticed that he replaced sand paper the minute it started getting smooth. He said that labor time is a lot more expensive than paper and he tries to buy the better grades of all abrasives. He values his own time as much or more than billed-out time. He does have a small bucket with used paper that is smoothed some but not torn-- but still useful for quickly touching up parts and edges.

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Yes! Take a page out of Rebecca Whitman's book on brightwork and toss it the minute it stops cutting.

confused, exactly what is the "sandpaper eraser", and where are they listed for sale?

HerbertFriedman said:

confused, exactly what is the "sandpaper eraser", and where are they listed for sale?

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Try a search for "abrasive cleaning stick for sanding belt". They kind of feel like the material you get if you rub rubber cement residue together, only much denser.

got it, many thanks

Thanks Jeff and Christian...I just added it to my Amazon "Sailboat tools" wishlist