TERRIBLE internet trend for sanding wood. 

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Sir, this is the internet. How dare you be calm and reasonable !

"this is a handmade product. any minor variations in texture and color enhance the value of the finished product" words to live by.

I find this topic abrasive!

Dude...this is actually pretty profound. So many channels focus on the machining and construction and are light on good finishing tips.

As a 76 yr old woodworker, thank you for keeping common sense alive for younger generations.

I'm from Australia but live in the US, back home you can buy cork sanding blocks for a few $, sized correctly to use a quarter sheet of paper. Blows my mind that home Depot and Lowe's don't have these as an impulse buy item at every register!

3M also makes a rubber sanding block that I love using. Just enough flexibility. And it has built in hooks to hold the sandpaper.

Well, this definitely explains why dumping sand on the wood never worked. It's about time someone told me!

My English friend was a Trained French Polisher. He used the cork blocks just as you advised.

Another powerfully simple and wise video. When I watch you, it reminds me of finding that one person in the hardware store with enough experience to tell you plainly what works for the lowest cost and least amount of material.

After sanding projects for hours I discovered smoothing planes, now I use a smoothing plane and scrapers when needed followed by light hand sanding with finer grits. This video is spot on for me, thanks Stumpy. I really miss the Old Timey Woodworker videos and the ‘cold one’ at the end. You and Paul Sellers are my favorite UTube woodworkers, most of the others just pirate and then act like they did all the historical research.

My dad is an old school trained fine and rough carpenter from Denmark. He has always had a whole bunch of old cork sanding blocks in different sizes, but most with tapered edges on one side (top side). I have never seen any cork sanding blocks for sale anywhere in Canada, where I currently reside.

Nobody's going to notice. You don't seem to have the conviction my mother -in-law does to find a mistake I've made , and make everyone aware.

watching you sand is more fun than watching me sand! Great tips as always!

Another to the point , factual , informative , no nonsense teaching video from Stumpy. Me as a very amateur with entry level tools I always learn something from this site. Thank you.

as a retired furniture maker i have to agree about the rubbish often espoused by people in youtube. generally speaking, even though i have electric sanders, i prefer to use a finishing plane on a piece to take off a very fine shaving and leave a perfect surface. or maybe a scraper. but once you have that immaculate surface you then need to rough it up to take a finish which is where a quick flick with some 180 leaves a surface for the finish to adhere to. personally i never go over 180 in grit. i may go to 220 for pieces like small boxes that are getting a lot of up close tactile use. anything over 220 is more about the person thinking they are doing great work than reality.

Pretty sure that if you were buying a block of cork labelled as sanding block cork, you would pay a lot more. I actually bought a folding 1 inch thick yoga mat for working under the car. Keeps the wife guessing if you are buying yoga equipment.

I picked up a used yoga mat for $1 at a garage sale and have used it many time in my woodworking projects.

Ive been making sanding belts, discs, rolls, ect…for 23 years in OH, and sanding my woodworking projects for longer and I have never seen this!! Excellent video, keep up the great work!

I use mdf with cork laminated to it, and 220 grit. Works great for the final hand pass! 👍

Stumpy - I have watched every single one of your videos from the day you set out on RU-vid but never commente, thus far - but you are 100% correct on this one and just about everything else you ever comment on. You know your stuff, that is clear. You haven't made your presence on this medium without that.

Thank you for the video. And not just for presenting your position, but for providing reasons, and notes such as the use of cork as a sanding block material!

I've always used 1/4" neoprene from an old mouse pad that was too thick to be comfortable as a mouse pad. Made a few sanding blocks gluing it to blocks of wood. Works great for contour sanding blocks and such. Never tried cork. I'll give it a shot, my current sanding blocks are getting a little ragged.

I use an old Mat. Very good. All your advice is spot on. Thanks

Thank you for - again - a very informative video! Appreciating you spending the time doing so, already helped me out a lot in my shop!

The problem is you are using Imperial sandpaper. 😁

Loads of great tips here. Many thanks.

Cork! Great idea! Never would have thought of that. Lots of great tips here. Thanks!

This is so beautiful that I almost came to tears.

Thanks for the excellent tips, James! 🙂🙂🙂❤❤❤

Haha! I love the tips and especially the advice about not worrying overly about the flatness.

Always interesting to see others showing the best way to do something. I always found, use what works, what you have on hand. I got maple sanding blocks for 1/2, 1/4, and 1/8 sheets. And one out of 3/4" thick rubber for 1/4 sheet. I rarely painted my patterns clear, but all near vertical surfaces have to be flat and smooth.

The tip of using sanding blocks to square wood looks quite useful! I came up with a similar idea when I'd made some shelves with edges that were way off square, and ended up clamping a handheld belt sander on its side to some pieces of scrap laminated fiberboard to do essentially what your shooting block does but removing lots of material quickly. Never thought of doing that with a hand-sanding block, for some reason, but it makes sense.

Agree 100%--final sand by hand. I have a piece of 4/4 poplar I use for a sanding block. Dead square and flat all the way around, made from scrap. A layer of leather(harvested from a worn out couch, I still have a few sq ft of it) on one side. When I want a rigid block, use the bare side or edges. I just wrap the paper--sized to 1/3 of a sheet--and hold it with my fingers. Works great and essentially free, except for the sandpaper of course. I recently got a pad with velcro sized for my sander's disks, and I find myself using it more and more. Too lazy to go tear off another 1/3 of a sheet, I guess lol.

Totally with you on this. Thanks again.

I always learn something from your videos. Thanks!

This may well be the best woodworking tips video in years! I knew the cork already (thnx for the cheap option!) but I’ll definitely check out the carbide blocks. Thnx once again!

Thanks, great advice as always !

The tips in this video are so good. The yoga mat is perfect! My wife has one...

Sir, you are spot-on as usual, and eloquent as to your reasoning. Well done!

Watching your videos and using your tips and tricks are really boosting my confidence level with wood working. Here's to keeping all of my fingers! Well, hand sanding should be safe enough.

I just placed an order for two Dura Grit sanding blocks you linked to. I think I’ll really enjoy using those. Thank you for the recommendation. 😊

A lot of times I fold a 1/4 sheet and use my hand as the sanding block. I also have a small flexible block that is made for body work, it's only about a half inch thick and maybe 5x3 diameter.

La esencia del diy, buscar la mejor solución en cualquier lugar posible, perfecto

Always enjoy your tip and tricks, it has improved my skill level. I also appreciate your recommendations

Ya won me over, Stumpy. I clicked on the vid to see what gatekeeper nonsense this was about, and I'm glad to say I learned a lot! Thanks for sharing your wisdom.

Really great video content as always. I really appreciate how concise and useful the information you share is. I found your channel when I had specific wood working question but now I watch your videos regardless because they are always informative and direct. Thank you StumpyNubs!

Lots of good stuff here James. Thanks.

And don't put too much pressure on your paper, you’ll just dull it faster and make the work uneven. This goes for brushes too, let the tips do the work.

You nailed this! Great video.

I've been on to cork since I saw a Tage Frid video many years ago. He used 1/4 sheets of sandpaper wrapped around the block and he would move the paper often to maintain a cutting surface. This set up is a real work horse.

My husband’s hard rubber sanding blocks from his days of doing automotive paint and body work wonderfully for finish sanding my pieces. It’s the same principle- slightly flexible, but rigid enough to leave a smooth finish without uneven spots. I do like the cork block idea though! I figured out the trick of raising my piece with another board to keep a square edge quite accidentally, and only recently saw someone showing it as a “hack”…oh, how I despise what that word has come to!😁 Anyhoo, thanks for another useful video!

Fantastic video. Valuable information.

Always helpful. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

Excellent. I got my start using only wood sanding blocks but we were sanding the high gloss table tops. I've been surprised at how many woodworkers today seem to use random orbit sanders for everything. I use them too but will always use a flat wood block for if something needs to stay flat. One of the pleasures of sanding with a block despite the time involved is that you get to really see the wood you're working. And there's the pleasure of seeing the finished perfectly flat surface.

I learn so much from you common sense thanks so much❤❤❤❤

Great tips. Thank you

I'm glad I'm on the right track by using my electric triangular sander first to clear rough and stubborn texture and stains and then manually sand with a combination of a flat cork sander for the length of the piece and rounded plastic sander for creating smooth rounded edges. Great tips you gave here. Will certainly use them although not buying from Amazon. Ty for the video SN : ]

I love your videos...they are easy to understand (English is not my mother language) and each one has a lot of useful and technical information... Congratulations from Brazil

Thank you! Some great tips on sanding.

True words again, Stump. A few years back. I found some cork sheet in one of those surplus stuff stores. I put it on the bottom of my sanding blocks for all the reasons you say. Probably not as nice as your all-cork blocks but they still work. I also have a supply of hard blocks, for all the reasons you say. 80-grit, even 100-grit, goes on the hard blocks, 180 and 220 on the cork blocks. It's not absolute, depends on the task. You can also use the cork sheet to re-surface damaged and burned trivets. If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.

very valuable expert knowledge shared by a true master of the craft. Thank you!

I’ve seen a ton of videos on the best sanding techniques, and you’re still only scratching the surface with this topic! 😅

Spot on information as always James.

Thanks for sharing James, lots of great information. Fred.

You are one of the most clever on RU-vid - Thanks You 👍

My grandpa never cared for powered sanders. It took him a while but he always sanded his by hand. I am not that patient, but I always do my final pass by hand. Thank you for validating my method. You are always on point, James.

Thanks I'm try it on a car panel soon !!

In addition to what's been said in the vid, I also used a hard sanding block to remove the arris on many of my projects. If you've got anything laminated or have pieces coming together with the grain at different angles near the edges (so most projects), a plane can always blow out the corner, whereas a sanding block never will. Plus you can round off those corners at the same time if it's a piece expected to take a beating. Edit: Oh hey, do you ever use cabinet scrapers? I don't recall them being mentioned on the channel, but they're excellent for a final pass on a fancy project.

Great video as always. I bought a carbide sanding block at a chow years ago but it is useless because there is a rim of plastic around the sanding area. Duragrit looks great. Also, I often sand with a new chalkboard eraser which is quite flat but has enough give to get into small defects.

Great sanding tips.

The grit-impregnated sponge blocks can be really useful too, especially for awkward shapes and odd corners. Well worth having to hand. Good tip about using sanding blocks for mitres with a jig though, I'll put that in my bin of ideas.

Thanks for the info

Awesome! Thanks a bunch, James! 😃 Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

You are a great teacher and valuable resource.

Ahhh, put a cork in it! Great ideas once again from James! I have those duragrits, all thanks to your videos!

Another great informative video.

I bought those carbide sanding several years ago on your recommendation, and I still use them all the time. I haven't noticed any wear on them.

I love this channel. Either some day I will have time to do beautiful woodwork at home to enjoy, or somebody will make the mistake to ask me if I do that kind of work, and I'll say "maybe, but if I do it will be expensive " And I will pray they don't accept my astronomical bid. Lol

Excellent info and presentation as usual. Following the info will provide the best of modern finishing. To achieve the mastet museum collection finishes please refer to his older videos of the proper use and maintenance of Scrapers. These final finish tools leave a grain and depth clarity with residue finishes impossible to achieve with abrasives. Mr. Nubs covers the bases.

Hey James. I recently learned that you live somewhere around Saginaw. Nice to see fine techniques and great videos coming from my home town. I lived near the intersection of Brockway and Gratiot as a child then several other places around the county in later years. I do my Woodworking in west Michigan now where I've been for about 25 years.

Nicely done

I really appreciate the fine craftsmanship, ideas and conversations on this channel by Stumpy and his channel subscribers. There are a few other woodworking channels here on RU-vid where the person has an ultimate tool collection but really has no idea about craftsmanship or anything to be honest. Thanks for all you do James and a big shout out to all the great people here leaving their comments. 😎👍👍

😳💁 You are really going to stir the pot with this one! 😬🙏🤞 Excellent video, and i fully agree with the hand sanding, and plz go with the grain. Can you believe I've been blackballed from some channels for suggesting this is the more correct way... and I did not even get to the hand only, soft, medium, firm, hard, whatever sanding block, topic, just booted! 😳😵‍💫🙄😬💁

Thanks. It’s as you were almost an engineer. Thank you so much AGAIN.

There's a lot of useful information in this one.

I'm an engineer then retrained to teach woodworking. I'm old school so the blocks you show, I made a class set when I first started 25 years ago. Seniors projects are all about design, construction techniques and finish. Students studied this over two years and knew that while I gave them grades for exams, an expert examiner would be marking their project. Attention to detail was drummed into them and have met one of my past students building a two story house next to mine. He remember everything I told him. Finish is key even on big projects ey Sir!

The other trick with sandpaper and glue joints is using a decently coarse grit can really make it disappear. A planed surface tends to have a slightly dark line at the joint IME, but scuff it with 120 to get it a lil fuzzy and it just goes away.

In Jr high and HS shop class we had planers, drum sanders, hand sanders, surface machines and everything you could want to make sanding easier. We sanded everything by hand from start to finish up until the last few advanced classes. And everything was still finished by hand. The lesson being, you can have all the fancy gadgets for sanding you want but nothing will take the place of hand sanding as a final finishing step if you want a pro finish. Thank you for the great video!

Good tips, my friend

I like using those 2inch blue closed cell insulation foam for my soft block sanding. It works great and you can buy a whole sheet on the cheep.

I hope people pay close attention to this video. I'm an amateur, but I've been using a table saw since I was 8. I've done a ton of sanding in my life. If you have any sense of logic, you can not dispute anything in this video. He is on point with every detail here. Please, before you criticize everything you've seen here. I dare you all to actually try to put his techniques into practice for a couple of months and you will see for youselves that this is the correct approach. Great video 👌

Great advice Mr.Stumpy! Gonna find me a yoga mat asap!

Great knowledge (as always). A seemingly ho hum topic, until you apply your finish as you said. Thanks again James, for your commitment to making us better makers.

Hmmm, something else to buy to make my life a bit easier. I'll order a cork block this weekend. I have an old rubber sanding block that works pretty well, and a more rigid one I made from wood - both are showing their age. Cork makes a TON of sense! P.S. I built the Moxon vise you showed a few weeks back. Man, I needed that in my life 40 years ago!

I love the idea wit the cork. I used a wooden block but with felt glued to it so it is not that square hard under the sanding paper, but cork block may be better. I need to check :)

James, you have the best information and videos on sanding Bar-none! How I explain to people about the final sanding by hand is that you are “combing” the grain to remove any possible swirl marks left by the sander. This seems to sink in better or get an aha moment from those I’m explaining it to. All the best, Chuck.

Great video!

Man! I thought with that title you were just phoning it in, but another great video. Spot on