Shop Rolls

Ben Sellers

Well-Known Member
Do any of you guys use shop rolls of sandpaper? It seems like a pretty good system for storage and convenient to use. What I don’t know is if the quality is any good.

I just spent a small fortune on sand paper sheets so it’ll be a while but I’m thinking about next time already.

Thanks
 
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I don't. If you have a belt sander/grinder, and buy quality belts, just rip your used belts into strips and you have "shop roll" type sanding material, and don't have to spend the extra money. Most shop rolls, are intended ONLY for wood, and are very often a lower/ the lowest grade of abrasives.

Many folks buy their sandpaper, or even belts based on price. My advice is to buy the best quality you can, and use any abrasives like they are free! :)

Like most, I to try to balance price with quality.... my choice for sanding sheets is RynoWet Redline. The only place I've found as a consistent source for it is Super Grit.
 
I thought shop rolls looked like a great idea when I first started. What I discovered is exactly what Ed said.

Personally, I came to the point where the quality of the sandpaper is all that mattered to me. Reason being, you spend hours sanding and all of a sudden your effort becomes the most expensive part of the process. Once I discovered the difference that 3M Imperial and Rhinowet make for the finish I stopped using anything else. It takes no time to cut a sheet into strips as you are using it, especially since you use so much less of the good stuff.
 
I have a few shop rolls sitting around in my shop. Like Ed said, they are pretty low quality. I will use them for sanding inside of lock bars on my liner locks, but that's about the only use they get for knife making. They do work really well for doing wood turning though. That's were mine get used the most.
 
Where is the best place price wise to buy the Rhino wet Redline!! The only place I have found it around here is the auto body supply, and it doesn't come in full sheets!
 
I have some left over rolls of various grits from doing body work and paint on an old car I'm restoring. I plan on using those in the shop but I think their use will be limited and if it wasn't for being leftovers, expensive.
The nice thing about them is they are 2" wide and adhesive backed. Setting them to a flat surface and hand sanding flats will be a decent use for them. I haven't used this paper on knives yet but I thought the quality was pretty good. Obviously they were designed for body work so........
 
Where is the best place price wise to buy the Rhino wet Redline!! The only place I have found it around here is the auto body supply, and it doesn't come in full sheets!

Chris, just go to Midwest Knife Makers supply. There is a link at the top of the page. Tracy carries it.
 
Thanks! That saved me some money. I noticed yesterday that the 3m I was using was way better than the discount aluminum oxide junk I had been using before.
 
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