Is your sandpaper "organized" like this?
Glorious grocery bags stuffed with a variety of sandpaper grits, where you have to dig like an archeologist to find that piece of 320 grit you are after?
After 20-something years of digging through bags, I decided, "No more!"
All grit families are now in their own clearly labeled bag!
(ex: 100's bag contains 100, 150, and 180 grit)
Other types are in their own bag: sticky-backed sandpaper made for orbital sanders and emery boards for fingernails.
Emery boards are great for removing the rough edge on Rio Rondo photo etched buckles after cutting them off of the sheets!
These are called "sanding sticks", from metalsmithing class. These could also come in handy for some model horse aplications.
These are created by taking a straight (not warped) wooden paint stirring stick and wrapping and entire sheet of sandpaper around it.
Once the exposed sandpaper is used up, carefully rip the top layer off for a brand new layer to use!
(It helps to label the grit on the stick, too!)
Instead of having a drawer filled with grocery bags full of sandpaper bits, I can now easily identify the grit I need and quickly pull a piece right out!
Sandpaper grits:
Low numbers = coarse grit
(ex: 80, 100)
Higher numbers = smoother grit
(ex: 320, 400, can go up to at least 1500.
800 and higher barely feel like sandpaper to the touch.)
Low numbers are often used for removing larger rough areas, and higher grits are for finishing and removing course lines left from the lower number grits.
Typical grits used in the model horse hobby are often within the 100 to 400 or 600 range (customizing, tack making, etc.)
To remove deeper scratches of 100 grit, it is a good idea to use a few different grits to end with a finished product. Next move to 220, 320, then 400 for a smooth finish.
Happy sanding, and don't forget your dust mask!!
