How do you guys hold small parts for sanding?

[bill epstein]

Really small, 2" x 6" small.

I'm suffering from orbital sanders thumb. That, after almost holding the work with some honeycomb drawer liner. I would have clamped it in the vise with some scrap to give clearance away from the bench but my bench is in the spare bedroom. I sand out on the deck on top of the patio table.

Would've used double-sided tape but didn't want to deal with the residue. In hindsight, a few wipes with some mineral spirits beats a bandaged digit.

What else is there?

[Bill Carey]

I just finished sanding 48 small rails - QSWO, 2" x 6 1/2" using these clamps.

430432

the rails were 3/4" so I had a couple of 5/8 blocks on the bench, put the rail between them, and clamp. Release, repeat. Actually went pretty quickly. I've also made a 3 sided "dock" tacked to a piece of scrap and held the piece in the dock with a push stick.

[glenn bradley]

Like a lot of things, sanding pads come in a variety of types. I've seen folks in videos struggle with drawer liner from the Dollar Store. Even the heavier drawer liner stuff is going to let things move about if you are using coarser grits. Rug liner does OK but, I have had some product leave marks behind from the manufacturing process even years later.

For small parts, using a pad can result in an irregular surface due to the piece shuffling about a bit. When things get smaller than the pad you have that danger of rounding over the outer edges; a pad amplifies that in my experience. It may be that a work surface that you can clamp to your table outside will help the most. then you can dog the small parts and sand with more control (and less sander's thumb).

I rigged a do-funny to hold my ROS so I can hold small pieces against it instead of the other way round.

430433

I have seen this done by filling a wheelbarrow inner tube with sand and setting the ROS upside down in it as well.

[Mark Hockenberg]

A hand screw clamp would be good for that

[Bill Carey]

"I rigged a do-funny....."

Great term - never heard it before but I'll be stealin it.

And a very nice do-funny it is too.

[ChrisA Edwards]

Jim B turned me on to these, Powertec 75050, $40 from Amazon. The orange pieces are stops that you can place in any of the holes.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DVQRHBS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_image?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/7101-8yzPiL._AC_SL1500_.jpg


I made myself a down draft sanding box
https://i1094.photobucket.com/albums/i452/cedwards874/Woodworking/Down%20Draft%20Sanding%20Box/DownDraftSandingBox3_zps56ldp7sw.jpg

https://i1094.photobucket.com/albums/i452/cedwards874/Woodworking/Down%20Draft%20Sanding%20Box/DownDraftSandingBox5_zpshjezalr0.jpg

[bill epstein]

Those look like winning!

[michael dilday]

How thick are they? Use a non-slip, a horizontally clamped piece of wood on the bench of bench dogs.

[Chris Fournier]

If I have to I'll make a quick and dirty clamping fixture for the job, that is if my two vises and bench dogs let me down first...

[Edwin Santos]

Really small, 2" x 6" small.

I'm suffering from orbital sanders thumb. That, after almost holding the work with some honeycomb drawer liner. I would have clamped it in the vise with some scrap to give clearance away from the bench but my bench is in the spare bedroom. I sand out on the deck on top of the patio table.

Would've used double-sided tape but didn't want to deal with the residue. In hindsight, a few wipes with some mineral spirits beats a bandaged digit.

What else is there?
If they're the same size parts, you could make a sanding fixture out of a scrap piece of plywood as a backer and tack shallow strips around the perimeter of the workpiece shape to capture it.
If different size pieces, you can sometimes use the same idea oversized, with some wedges tapped in to hold things securely.
This might be the same idea that Chris mentioned above.

[Andy D Jones]

A hand screw clamp would be good for that

Ditto! Often better: two hand screw clamps: one to hold the work piece, and the other to clamp that hand screw to the bench (or deck railing?) to provide a little more versatility.

Since they are wood* also, your sanding pad won't mind too much if you touch the clamp jaw a bit.

*(handscrew jaws used to be Maple, but who knows what you get with imports. Woodcraft, Lee Valley, et al sell Dubuque Mirro-Moose brand hand screw clamps still made in USA with maple jaws.)

-- Andy - Arlington TX

[Brian Tymchak]

I recently sanded about 1000 building blocks ( 2x2, 2x4) using my stationary belt sander. It took about 20 hrs to do all of them, 6 faces and round over edges. Only 4 or 5 oops where finger or finger nail met sanding belt. I was thinking that it might be faster ( and safer) to gang them together in bunches to sand edges, ends, faces with orbital sander. Then a quick pass on the belt sander to round over edges.

[Mark Bolton]

We just use anti-skid/slip mats for things like couch cushions, futon mattresses, or liners for tool boxes. The parts will still scoop a little but if you dont need a rigid hold they work great and are cheap to toss out.