I don’t like my workpiece moving around while I’m sanding it or having to clamp it down to the table; moving the clamps to access and sand the area that had the clamp. I’ve been using a tool box liner for quite a few months as a base for my sanding projects and it works great so I wanted to share my little tip.
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Use a Tool Box liner as a sanding base
Either a shelf liner or a tool box liner will do the job though I prefer the latter because of the extra 6″ in width. It’s perfect for keeping even my largest projects in place while I sand them. The grippy material pulls double duty sandwiched between a workpiece and a worktable. It doesn’t slide on the worktable and the workpiece doesn’t slide on it!
I haven’t built mine yet, but I think this would be perfect to put on top of a downdraft table. The waffle pattern would allow the sawdust to be suctioned right down through the holes.
This 18″ x 72″ tool box liner is $8 so it’s a really inexpensive and very useful addition to the workshop!
Another useful sanding tool is/are Bench Cookies. They are great for elevating a workpiece off the table when painting too. I have two sets but use them more for painting than sanding now that I use my shelf/ tool box liner.
Charlotte Wood says
What a great idea! I’m going to try this out next time.
Val says
LOL! When I read the title, my first thought was that you use it instead of sanding paper – wow, what a novel approach :)))
The idea is great, thank you! I didn’t even know that tool box liners exist.
Jordan says
The title totally confused me for a sec – using it to do the actual sanding!? But that got cleared up pretty quick – seems like an interesting idea! I have some spare shelf liner that I didn’t know what to do with – might just have to put it with the sanding stuff!
Timisha says
Thank you! This is a great Tip. I’m pinning it!
annette says
enjoy your work