Sanding sticks

I had to go to the museum this morning to measure up a couple of controllers as I am going to mass produce enough for six or seven trams. While I was there I made good use of the bench saw as, now I am back using styrene, I needed to make more sanding sticks. My old ones seem to have become "dispersed" over the years.

I sliced a 1" strip off an old piece of pine then cut that into a number of strips 5/32" thick. I cut the strips down to 12" long and a quick hit with the belt sander to put finger grips into the wood and with my controller dimensions I was off home again.

I laminated a number of pieces of styrene together to build up to the size I needed for the controllers and had to put them aside to dry. So I thought I would get on with making the sanding sticks.


I use wet and dry emery paper for these things which I buy in the 11" x 9" sheet size. I cut off a number of 1" wide by 9" long strips of 80, 180 and 800 grit because that is what I had in the cupboard and glued them on with a very thin coat of contact adhesive. Ideally they should be ready to fall off when they are worn out but it doesn't always work out that way. I made plenty of sticks and when I'm out next I will get a couple of more different grits to give me a better range.

I find the home made ones are sturdier, last longer and are much cheaper that anything from the hobby shop.