Sanding Mop

• This is a really quick and easy project and if you hate sanding, especially in tight locations, this project is for you!

• I needed a new sanding mop to sand some really tight areas on the pictured piece of redwood burl. The one I have is worn out and couldn't get into the crevices so it was time to build one.

• The materials needed are pretty simple:
• A roll of 100 or 120 grit emery paper 64 inches long.
• A 1/4"x 20 - 3 to 4 inch carriage bolt, a couple washers, and two 1/4"x20 nuts.
• A couple pieces of duct tape

• Tools required: drywall knife, tape measure, square, marking pen, metal file, drill

• I started by stretching out the emery paper, abrasive side down, and duct taped each end to keep it stable while prepping it.
• The next step was to measure out 8" strips on the back of the paper and mark them with a Sharpie Marker - these will be the cutting locations. You could easily add more strips - just use more emery paper.
• I made the strips 8" long (4" long on each side of the shaft) so they could get into some tight areas. I don't know how much longer the strips could be made and still work correctly.
• Once the cutting locations were marked, I marked the center for each 8" strip and cut a small X on each center with the utility knife. This is the location where the future sanding mop shaft (the carriage bolt) will be inserted through.
• I then cut 1" long slits on each side of the 8" cut marks - 2" cuts in total length spaced 1/4" apart using the utility knife.
• When all the minor cuts were made, the length of emery paper was cut at the 8" marks giving me eight (8) pieces of emery paper with the ends slit.

• The underside of the head of the carriage bolt was square and the washer I was using wouldn't fit over the square portion of the head so I popped the carriage bolt into the vice, filed the square portion of the head until the washer slipped on correctly.
• The emery paper was then pushed onto the new "shaft" - the fiber sides were placed back to back to make 4 pair (photo 4 above).
• A second washer was placed on the shaft after everything was in place.
• The first nut was threaded down the shaft and tightened followed by a second nut which was torqued against the first nut to keep the new sanding mop head from getting loose (last photo).
• Mounted the the sanding mop shaft in the drill, tightened the chuck, and voila' - a new sanding mop in about 20 minutes, made out of materials laying around the wood shop.

I hope you like this really simple Instrucable.