Wood Turning Sanding Disc Storage - Version 1

Within Wood Turning, when I've finished shaping an item using my gouges etc., whilst the surface will be pretty good, it generally needs sanding. The sanding makes the wood surface smoother, ready for to apply a Danish Oil finish later.

Sanding can be done in various ways - sandpaper is usually used, but this can either be strips of sand paper, held in the hand, or discs of sand paper, attached to a drill or friction sander by a special disc using Velcro in various diameters (I currently have 25mm, 35mm, 50mm and 75mm).

Friction sander - uses rotation of lathe to make head rotate - takes some learning

Sanding item on the lathe using a drill - sand paper is Velrco'ed to drill attachment

I start with coarser pieces - in wood turning that means 120, 150 or 180 grit, depending on the wood - then moving up to 240 and 320 grit, and 400 or 500 if the wood is fine grained.

Someone once said "Use sandpaper as if someone else was paying for it" - and that is true. Sandpaper, by it's nature, wears quickly, so one piece doesn't last too long, but it's easy to "get one more go with it", knowing fully well that it has lost it's bite and that we should get a new piece out.

50mm Velcro backed sanding discs - Velcro side up

To work efficiently means organising the sandpaper so existing pieces can be found quickly, along with new pieces - I'll have 5 different grits in various different sizes. It's easy to get into a mess with odd piles of varying sizes, which is a nuisance.

Further more, as I turn seated, and only want to get up and move around if I have to, I want everything within easy/safe reach from where I'm sitting.

I've tried various ways to do this - most of which haven't worked. It turns out that the answer was obvious - get some strips of scrap wood (pine in this case, but could have been many other types), and stick some Velcro to it, then attach the discs to that in a "Tree" form, with the coarsest grits at one end, and mount them on a nail near the lathe.

Sanding discs in 50mm and 75mm sizes on "tree"

Then, when I need them, I have them within easy reach, and can work through the grits, taking one disc off at a time - and when I've finished with one, returning it to the "tree" so it is ready for next time.

Discs mounted on nail close to lathe

I've been using it for a little time, and so far, so good. The only problem has been the Velcro strips aren't sticking to the pine strips that well - think I need another base - but that will have to wait until another day.