[grandpa ray]

I haven,t made many walking sticks but i found it is a chore to sand them. i found a website that sells drum sanders and i bought one $50.00 .it is the greatest thing for sanding .i can sand a stick in 10--15 minutes without any effort.what do you guys use to sand?????? post any good ideas

 

[NightKnight]

I generally do my sanding by hand, often using a sanding pad. But, I have given some serious though to getting this one sander from Harbor Freight. I will see if I can find a link.

 

[NightKnight]

Here it is:
http://www.harborfreight.com/1-inch-x-30-inch-belt-sander-2485.html

I like this one because you can do detail work with it. Cheap too!

 

[grandpa ray]

That looks like a nice sander for all around use . check out the drum sander on " ORIGINALS BY WEBER "  site .i,m not trying to promote business for anyone but i do like the drum sander .it works great for sanding sticks or fish decoys etc

 

[Shawn C]

I have found that sanding by hand with a bow sander works best for me. I have one that I made, but you can buy them as well. They are easy to make; if you search it, you will quickly find images and patterns. Although it is by hand, it works well because it removes material evenly as you rotate your stick in a proper clamping system.

 

[NightKnight]

How tight do you keep the band Shawn? Do you keep it very tight/rigid, or is there some slack?

 

[Shawn C]

As tight as I can. The fabric sanding strips will still have some give even if you get it as tight as you can; after a bit, they stretch out anyway. the one shown above is not mine - I just found it on the internet, but you get the idea. Mine is a bit longer. Obviously the longer the strip, the more slack you will naturally have no matter how tight you make it.

 

[Sean]

Good thread.

I have a couple of palm sanders, 1/2 sheet and 1/4 sheet, great for finishing. I guess I use

my orbital the most as it does a great job of rounding off the end of my walking sticks and canes.

I have a disc sander that you can really whack a good amound of wood off in a hurry.

I've used the drum sander for work on my slingshots but as of yet not too much on sticks.

Aaron, that belt sander that you posted the link on is a cool little unit that I've been eyeing up

here at Canadian Tire. I'd like to get one eventually and try and fit a nice piece of leather to

it and use it as a strop for knives.

 

[Sean]

I have found that sanding by hand with a bow sander works best for me. I have one that I made, but you can buy them as well. They are easy to make; if you search it, you will quickly find images and patterns. Although it is by hand, it works well because it removes material evenly as you rotate your stick in a proper clamping system.

Great job on that one Shawn! That is a piece of craftsmanship!

 

[Lewey]

I built a couple of pretty simple drum sanders that I use on every cane I make. The first started as a piece of cedar log that I turned round and just slightly larger than the ID of a beer coozie. Push the coozie onto the turned cedar then use spray-on contact cement to glue a piece of sandpaper to it. Put it into your lathe and you've got a heck-uv-a drum sander and cheap too.

The other one I built from an old bandsaw motor that I had. I bout a couple of pulleys and since I work at a bearing factory I was able to get a couple of pillowblocks pretty easily.

Both these come in real handy when finishing out handles.

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• Lewey
• Jan 11, 2013

20130110 185613 resized

• Lewey
• Jan 11, 2013

 

[grandpa ray]

nice sanders you got there Lewey . i have only used my drum sander a few times but i sure do like it.takes the hard work out of the project.I may try and build one like yours . it has a bigger drum than mine. happy sticking and happy sanding

 

[agedperfection]

I think I'm going to try that idea of your Lewey. I also have the same lathe as you. For quick removal of bark right now I am using a seven inch Makita disc sander but all other sanding by hand.

 

[Fordj]

Shawn C,

Regarding post #5 of this thread (first page), your bowsander, do you use rolls of emery cloth for the sanding medium? This is a very interesting tool that I would like to make. In post #7, you stated that that was not a picture of your own, and that yours is a little longer. That makes sense to me, as this one seems to have a very short workable length. How long is your abrasive strip?

 

[Shawn C]

I'd say the whole thing is about 17" long. Yes, I use 1" wide rolls of emery cloth - Klingspor brand.http://www.woodworkingshop.com/abrasive-rolls/

 

[Fordj]

Shawn C,

I am and have been a maintenance technician in the metalworking industry for many years, so have used emery cloth a lot. Anywhere from 50 grit to 420 grit.

Now I've got to thinking on how to make adapter anchors for a hacksaw frame to use emery cloth instead of hacksaw blades. Thank you very much!

I also work at a steel shop with 2 lasers, and we do rarely cut plastics with them. I'm going to talk to an engineer about what it would take to cut wood. I think you had links to plans for these sanding frames, I'll follow them after this post. I assume that they are made of hardwood plywood?