Sandpaper from Lee Valley

      

     But I would do it all again, every bit of          it.  I would lose him again just to have          him again for an hour, for a minute, 

      for even a second

     Lee Smith, Fried Chicken

If you have never read any Lee Smith I highly recommend her. She is subtle and nuanced. She reminds me of Flannery O'Conner with a little bit (lot bit?) of Bobbie Anne Mason.

While setting up shop again and  looking thru catalogs and websites I stumbled across this 3m sandpaper from Lee Valley that is pretty amazing.

If you've been reading my blog you know that I use sandpaper to sharpen my draw knives.  It's not that I don't think water stones don't work they do. But the narrow blade seems to dish the stones a lot so I spend a lot of time flattening the stones.  So I use a 1½ block of MDF in a machinist vice. A piece of 150 grit sandpaper glued to the top holds the paper on top so I don't need to futz with adhesive when running thru the grits. The paper is available in 15ų and also 5ų (around 1000 grit) and an amazingly fine .5ų (around 6000 grit) which leaves an absolute mirror polish.

In the past I used automotive sandpaper which worked fine and still does but this paper is different.  The 15ų (600 grit) has a really solid backer paper which doesn't rip in my hand held blocks I use when I'm on the horse (see below).

These blocks work ok. Could be better and maybe someday I'll come up with something but
when you're busy well you know.