Adam Savage's Guide to Sanding Tools!

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I adore these deep dives into tools- some of my favorite content Adam makes (and I love it all)!

Tool videos are always my favourite.

You forgot to mention fingernail file sticks. You'd talked about them in some projects in the past. Also, the advice to try the drum sanders to determine whether or not your shop needs to escalate to one of the more expensive options is a fantastic one.

Adam, you are one of the makers who inspired me to get into making. About a year ago I sorted out the garage and have converted half of it into a woodworking shop. I have made so many things and have spent countless hours building things. I’ve started making the gifts I give to my family for holidays. I went from using just the tools my family had in the garage and I now have 2 3D printers (1 fdm printer and 1 msla printer), a bandsaw, and a hand lathe. This is something I could see myself doing as a hobby for the rest of my life. I just wanted to thank you for the motivation to finally do something I had wanted to do for a while and now love doing.

Not mentioned in the video but the #1 Sanding tool you should have is a block of spun rubber to clean your sand paper. A.K.A. Abrasive Cleaning Stick If you have never had, used, or heard of one your shop life will never be the same without it.

I've invested a lot of resources in sanding machines. They take up a lot of space in the shop but worth every inch.

Alligator finger tape! End of video you mention gloves but I've found cases where gloves create more of a danger and I still needed some kind of protection. Alligator tape is commonly used by jewelers and when you need to hold light small items for sanding and especially when you have to work with a rotary tool. This tape is an absolute finger saver. It gives you more grip and both heat and abrasion protection. It only sticks to itself and it's very affordable. You can even use it over gloves if you need chemical/grime protection but your gloves are too thin to last from abrasion. Makes your disposable gloves last forever when polishing. Fingers are usually the first thing to go.

While I understand what was said about gloves, there's a counter to this "wear gloves" thing. I specifically instruct people in my shop /not/ to wear gloves with any spinning machine. The fact is, you can't feel the tip of that glove, and you will find yourself bumping stuff sometimes. That's fine. But with a spinning machine, it can be the case that the machine snags the glove and pulls it. Then more contact is made, and thus more pulling, to the point that the glove can end up being pulled into the machine. But if you go back to the start of the scenario, you'll be reminded that your hand is /in/ that glove when that happens. It can be quite unpleasant, and make a band-aid situation into an ambulance situation. The best example is a jointer, where being pulled in means you don't get to enjoy the benefits of those fingers ever again.

At secondary school I spent a lot of time using sandpaper, Japanese rasps and the disc sander. Just the thought of using a rasp or sander like that is instant nostalgia trip for me

I grew up in a puppet making studio in a theater around my dad who was a sculptor. One of his most used tools was the grinder. Since during the 80s in Bulgaria sandpaper was rare to find my dad reused one thrown out from a furniture factory. Restoring it included using acetone and a brass brush and a cotton rag. He had a couple of 250, 400 and 600 sheets which were used very sparingly.

First I was like…”I’m a puppet builder and I don’t sand…” then it hit me, I sand rod handles and mouth plates for my particular style of puppets so I think Adam is correct that sanding is what unites us all. Lol

The don’t overwork sand paper is something I’ve had to re learn as I’ve got back into scale modelling. Even using the ladder with such small subjects makes a huge difference to the end result

I'm an rc airplane modeler and my absolute favorite sanding tools are permagrit. They are tungsten carbide bonded to steel and will never wear out under normal use, and they usually dont gum up, if they do a wire brush will clean them. I have a dremel sanding drum that's over 20 years old and still works great. They make files, blocks, flat bars, dremel bits, and even a hacksaw blade. Great stuff

That sander got some kinda crazy good bearing on it.

I'll add mention of two more tools that I love. The oscillating multi-tool is great for detail work, with those triangular pads able to work into inside corners. they don't remove a lot of material quickly, but do have good control, plus can cut. Also, for bigger jobs, a 4 1/2" angle grinder can be equipped with sanding disks or toothed abrasive wheels, and works very well for sculpting on wood.

I might say this is an excellent tool tip! Of course at my age I have found through trial-and-error everything that you were teaching today which is fantastic for these young kids coming up. This was an excellent tutorial for these youngins. This brought up some excellent memories of some of my arduous attempts at using sandpaper, the hard way. But now I know when to advance and I know when to go to the next Grit and which machine to use, so on that note thanks very much for the video I'm glad you put this out for these young modelers I hope they take heed. Have a great day and stay safe and keep your powder dry and your sandpaper ready!

Hey Adam, a tip I’ve found works for me is on the top of your sandpaper storage screw a hacksaw blade teeth side out and it’s a nice serrated cutter, slide the sheet under it and pull up from one side.

Two comments: (1) Surprised you didn't mention the venerable random orbital sander. Maybe it's more of a mainstay for woodworkers, as opposed to makers, but I think it deserves honorable mention nonetheless. (2) My experience is that it is always better to buy quality sandpaper. It stays sharp longer, it provides a better 'sanding experience', and in the long run it costs less.

My school design teacher was demonstrating a disk sander whilst talking to the class, got distracted and sanded off the ends of his fingers. Best lesson ever. Still not as bad as the poor kid who got his balls trapped in a workbench vice. He was known as womble from then on.