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Sanding sticks


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I'm almost out of the sanding sticks I bought from Scale Dreams a few years ago and am wondering what to get to replace them. 

Squadron units are quite expensive as are the Flex i Flie units. 

Going to a Sally's Beauty Supply is a strong possibility.

I was really wondering about these handles with sanding belts in a variety of colors/grits.  Does anybody use them and are they worthwhile?

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Those Sally's sticks look interesting and I think I will give them a try. I'm guessing they are soft and flexible. If you need something rigid, I've had good luck attaching regular sandpaper to various shapes and sizes of wood sticks, using carpet tape or spray adhesive. I've also used sticky back sandpaper, but I've only found it in limited (relatively coarse) grits.

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I just did a quick Google image search for "nail file sticks" and came up with a remarkable array of tools for doing this kind of work.

Like Rob (Jantrix) apparently, I use metal files for a lot of my shaping, and only resort to flexible files rarely. Also like Hugh (Kit Basher) I use regular or self-adhesive sandpaper stuck to a variety of backers for fine work. Cut-up credit cards make an excellent, flat-but-flexible and waterproof backer.

Klingspor (among others) makes self-stick sandpaper up to at least 2000 grit. 

Rubber cement makes a good removable adhesive, and contact cement makes a good permanent one (if you want to use non-adhesive-back paper).

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The stick that takes the belts is VERY useful in certain circumstances, but I don't use it routinely.

Check out the nail care section at Walmart. They have some Trim labeled stuff that works VERY well and is quite reasonably priced. Buy one of each and when you decided what you like best, go back and buy up a bunch of THAT before they discontinue it.

You can also make your own sanding sticks with 3M Wetordry sandpaper, rubber cement, and various sizes and shapes of wood or strip plastic. I do this quite often.

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Try NailFiles.com... They are a wholesale manufacturer, and I especially like their Sterifiles which also come tapered with 2 grits per file Sterifiles Tapered. The most useful for me are the 100/180 and the 180/240. You can also get generic files 240/400 and 180/320 Mylar. The tapered files are useful because the end that is narrow is easier to get into cramped spaces. The dual grits allow you to have one side for rough sanding and the other for putting a polish back on the spot.

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