[gdenby]

A few months ago I mentioned I had bought some carbide surface sanding blocks, which do the same work as coarse sanding, but last for hundreds of uses. The other day I came across some similar tools, but of finer shape that may end up being a Christmas present to myself.

I suppose some of you might also find them useful, so here's a link if you want to examine them.

 

[Rodnogdog]

Thanks for posting the link. They also have some rotary bits too, I'm more interested in the rotary stuff for my flex shaft grinder.

 

[Rodney]

Those look like they would be real handy. A bit out of reach for my budget though they might actually save money long term.

Rodney

 

[gdenby]

I bought a set of the fine grit. After a few uses, I'd have to say they are probably not appropriate for wood working. The grit is nice, as are the tool shapes. But, the carbide appears to be set in some sort of plastic matrix, unlike any other carbide grit tool I have.. Perhaps its Teflon. While they smooth wood quite nicely down a little finer than 200 grit, there is a brownish residue that needs to be scraped away.

Perhaps the coating will wear away, and I see that the manufacturer says they can be cleaned w. acetone, so I'll give that a try. Otherwise, I suspect I will only use them to smooth resin when I get around to trying that as a filler for some knots and rotted spots.

 

[gdenby]

Those look like they would be real handy. A bit out of reach for my budget though they might actually save money long term.

Rodney

Carbide shapes are very nice. The advantage is that they last much much longer than sandpaper, and take up less storage space than sleeves of paper. Also, they come in shapes that are hard to reproduce w. sand paper. To date, the finest grit I have is 150, so not appropriate far making or refining detail. I've been using diamond rifflers, but those are quite small, and not good for much except touching up detail.

In the long run, any good tool is worth having. I'm still using chisels I bought 40 years ago, and I still get some use from a few of my grandfathers 100+ year old tools.