And you thought I was going to make a Wilbur Pan joke. Shame on you. I’m going to unsubscribe to your comments.
If you don’t use sanding sponges while finishing, you might want to give them a try. When I started at Popular Woodworking, we used stearated (lubricated) sandpaper (which is expensive) between coats of film finishes.
Ten years ago, contributor Troy Sexton showed me how he used sanding sponges with great results. And they cost much less money. I still have the first one I bought on the way home from Troy’s. It doesn’t cut as well as it used to, but it’s still got some life left in it.
I’ve also bought a couple new ones (spendthrift, I know), including this #320-grit 3M sponge, which I quite like. It is firm enough to handle flat surfaces. And it is thick enough and pliable enough to handle turnings (except the really tight areas).
Armed with these sponges, I can ignore the oft-repeated advice to work in a dust-proof and CDC microbe-free clean area.
— Christopher Schwarz
