Growing up we had a string of small wooden boats. My parents took care of the daysailers, while my sister, brother, and I were expected to take care of the dinghies. In our early years, that meant sanding, sanding, and more sanding. Eventually we would take on more interesting jobs, but the sanding never went away.My father had a variety of softwood blocks to wrap the sandpaper around. Having a block in hand was easier on the fingers than holding a piece of paper, and it didn’t seem to take away from the quality of the finish. Ever since those early years, I’ve continued to cut and wrap sheet sandpaper around wood blocks. 3M’s Stikit hand blocks are ergonomically designed to fit comfortably in an adult hand—large or small.
Photographs by the author
Read this article now for Free!
Ready for a second free article? Create a free account by entering your email address and a password below.
— OR —
Subscribe now for $29.99 a year and have immediate access to all of our content, including hundreds of small-boat profiles, gear reviews and techniques, adventure stories, and more! You can also browse our entire archive of back issues starting from September 2014, as well as post unlimited classified ads. This is an extraordinary value!
Another comfortable-to-hold sanding block is the Preppin’ Weapon. Uses clamps at either end to hold no-adhesive sandpaper. Comes in various colors so one can have a number of different grit papers at hand.
I love this product. I bought my own and a roll of 320 paper after seeing the excellent varnish team at Larsen Marine in Waukegan using them. It’s the only sanding block I used on my Tartan 34C.
I’ve had a similar pad for many years, except it fits 5-inch discs and has Velcro. Still yellow, though.