A sticky situation
If you had to guess, what would you say is the one thing about woodworking I don’t like?
If you had to guess, what would you say is the one thing about woodworking I don’t like?
Nope, it’s not sanding. I love sanding, as I noted three years ago, and again four years ago. Heck, I blogged about it more than a decade ago. But as much as I enjoy sanding there’s one specific aspect of it that I can’t stand. In fact, it’s probably the one aspect of woodworking I truly hate, and it’s this:
There is no more onerous task in the woodshop than changing PSA abrasives on a 12" disc sander. I’ve probably done it a hundred times over the years, and not once has the old disc ever come off cleanly. Sometimes it’s not too bad, with only 15-20 minutes or so of cleaning to do. Other times, well, it’s like the photo above where I know I have at least an hour’s work ahead of me getting that sticky mess taken care of before I can attach a new disc.
When I peeled the old sanding disc off two days ago, I took one look at it and then mentally tallied what upcoming sanding tasks I’d need a disc sander for. The answer turned out to be “none,” so I just shut off the lights in my sanding room and went back to work elsewhere.
Yeah, I can’t ignore it forever, though. That disc sander is an important tool so I’ll eventually have to go back in there and finish the job. But I’d happily pay someone 50 bucks to do it for me.
A.J. Hamler is the former editor of Woodshop News and Woodcraft Magazine. He's currently a freelance woodworking writer/editor, which is another way of stating self-employed. When he's not writing or in the shop, he enjoys science fiction, gourmet cooking and Civil War reenacting, but not at the same time.