21. Sandpaper. “Sandpaper is the last resort of a poor workman.” This statement has been made by many teachers to many thousands of students, and is true in many cases; but there are certain kinds of work where sandpaper, if properly used, is allowable.
Fig. 47. The Screw-Driver
It must always be kept in mind that a surface which has been sandpapered has become “gritty,” i.e. the fine sand has come off and is more or less imbedded in the wood. Consequently sandpapering must not be done until all tool work has been finished, as the grit will take the edge off the best tool, and the finer the edge the more quickly will it be ruined.
Fig. 48. An Exercise involving the Use of Sandpaper
Again, a sandpapered surface is always a scratched surface, and the finest of scratched surfaces cannot compare with the perfectly smooth, satiny surface produced by a sharp plane. However, there are many places where neither the plane nor spokeshave can be used, and here it is allowable to use sandpaper after the tool work has been carried as far as practicable.
[Fig. 48] is a case where sandpaper may be used with propriety. The bevels in this lesson are to be chiseled and then sandpapered with a sandpaper block,—the block in this case being simply a small piece of wood with square edges, about which the sandpaper is fastened closely.
Curved articles, such as the hammer handle, must dispense with the block, the sandpaper being held in the hand.