# Four Foot by Six Foot Sandpaper Eraser



## Dejure (Jul 27, 2009)

I was working on a door and some swirl marks came through on the stain. That meant sanding back through the stain. Of course, that meant I was going to load down sheets and disks of paper just holding the sander within a few feet of the door. What a pain in the neck, and the pocket book.

For some reason, while I was bending over to get something, it occurred to me to run the sander against the horse mat covering the floor. It sure wasn't going to hurt anything. After running it a few seconds, quite a bit of oily sawdust appeared on the floor. When I looked at the paper, ALL the stain that had loaded the sandpaper was gone. 

Cleaning the paper by running it against the [four by six foot] horse mat every few minutes, when it started loosing its effectiveness, allowed me to do as much with one sheet as I would have done with ten.


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

I don't know what a horse mat is as I'm Canada eh . But good tip just the same


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## kp91 (Sep 10, 2004)

RainMan 2.0 said:


> I don't know what a horse mat is as I'm Canada eh . But good tip just the same


They are big, heavy, rubber mats used in horse stalls.

We have them bolted to the fence behind the archery target. No arrow has gone through them yet!


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## Dejure (Jul 27, 2009)

I've got about eight of these mats on my concrete floor and they make a night and day improvement in comfort working in the shop. These are about one inch thick and, as mentioned, four feet wide by six feet long. Stores that supply goods used in the care of livestock often sell them.

It appears I could cut the pieces off one and make erasers for my belt sanders, disk sanders and so forth.


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## fire65 (Oct 29, 2008)

Why not clean the stain off with mineral spirits before sanding, it takes most of down to wood and certainly saves sand paper?


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Have you tried these Kelly? Crepe Blocks - Lee Valley Tools I'm curious how they compare. I've never tried them to remove stain, only pitchy resin stuck to the paper and they work well for that. Also, what are those mats worth? I'm wondering if they are more cost effective than the anti-fatigue mats that are sold for the same purpose.

Doug, I'm also an archery fanatic. The best targets I've ever used are coffee bean bags (burlap) stuffed with pallet wrap. My club started using them at our 3D meets and it wasn't long before many of the other local clubs followed suit. Fibreglass batt bags and vapour barrier also work but are not reusable like the pallet wrap are. Do not use shrink wrap to stuff the bags. You'll have to cut the arrows out of the bag.


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## sunnybob (Apr 3, 2015)

Charles, I have a block of that stuff, its amazing. My belt sander can look so blocked with dust you would think it was made of writing paper. One swipe across it with the soft rubber and I have a new belt again.
Be careful first time you use it though, it has a big GRAB factor and can jerk it clean out your hand.


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## Dejure (Jul 27, 2009)

Tried it and went back to sandpaper.



fire65 said:


> Why not clean the stain off with mineral spirits before sanding, it takes most of down to wood and certainly saves sand paper?


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## Dejure (Jul 27, 2009)

The point of the post is, a rubber floor mat worked. I have a crepe block at my 6x48 and at my 6x89. The block doesn't do much for a pad sander though. On the other hand, rubbing the sander across the floor covered with horse stall mats did what the crepe blocks would have done in five minutes, but it did it in seconds.

Guess I should have been more clear mentioning my other "erasers."




Cherryville Chuck said:


> Have you tried these Kelly? Crepe Blocks - Lee Valley Tools I'm curious how they compare. I've never tried them to remove stain, only pitchy resin stuck to the paper and they work well for that. Also, what are those mats worth? I'm wondering if they are more cost effective than the anti-fatigue mats that are sold for the same purpose.
> 
> Doug, I'm also an archery fanatic. The best targets I've ever used are coffee bean bags (burlap) stuffed with pallet wrap. My club started using them at our 3D meets and it wasn't long before many of the other local clubs followed suit. Fibreglass batt bags and vapour barrier also work but are not reusable like the pallet wrap are. Do not use shrink wrap to stuff the bags. You'll have to cut the arrows out of the bag.


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## Dejure (Jul 27, 2009)

The horse mats are heavy critters. They go for forty Federal Reserve Notes each. One mat probably weighs in about sixty or more pounds. They pale the anti-fatigue mats I have elsewhere in the shop.




Cherryville Chuck said:


> Have you tried these Kelly? Crepe Blocks - Lee Valley Tools I'm curious how they compare. I've never tried them to remove stain, only pitchy resin stuck to the paper and they work well for that. Also, what are those mats worth? I'm wondering if they are more cost effective than the anti-fatigue mats that are sold for the same purpose.
> 
> Doug, I'm also an archery fanatic. The best targets I've ever used are coffee bean bags (burlap) stuffed with pallet wrap. My club started using them at our 3D meets and it wasn't long before many of the other local clubs followed suit. Fibreglass batt bags and vapour barrier also work but are not reusable like the pallet wrap are. Do not use shrink wrap to stuff the bags. You'll have to cut the arrows out of the bag.


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## paduke (Mar 28, 2010)

RainMan 2.0 said:


> I don't know what a horse mat is as I'm Canada eh . But good tip just the same


No horses in Canada?


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

*Horse shoes*



paduke said:


> No horses in Canada?


Yeh, there's a couple...


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

fire65 said:


> Well yeah a few times in my 40 plus years of wood working I have tried it. I do not make things up just for the hell of it. I also never wasted a bunch of sand paper and then ask why. Why ask for help and then diss the ones that offer it. Seems like you just want to hear what you want to hear. Good thing about the internet, if you ask the question enough someone will agree with you and then you can feel good about what you screwed up.


Clay, Kelly wasn't asking for help, he was stating that he had tried something that worked and was sharing that. You have also tried something that you say works and you shared it. Kelly said he also tried it and didn't like the results. You've tried his way and didn't like the results. That is not an uncommon thing to see here on the forum. We are all different and have different preferences. Let's call it good at that and move on.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

paduke said:


> No horses in Canada?


We have our share of cowboys and cowgirls. Rick must not rub elbows with any of them. If you want to see lots of them in one place at one time try the Calgary Stampede sometime. It is the biggest rodeo in Canada and maybe north America.


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## Dejure (Jul 27, 2009)

Or go to the west (wet) side of my state, where people seem to confuse horses with big dogs and they can be found all over tarnation (e.g., Lacey, seemingly the big dog capital of the Mount Rainier area).





Cherryville Chuck said:


> We have our share of cowboys and cowgirls. Rick must not rub elbows with any of them. If you want to see lots of them in one place at one time try the Calgary Stampede sometime. It is the biggest rodeo in Canada and maybe north America.


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## Dejure (Jul 27, 2009)

Apparently I crossed the line and the post was taken down. If so, my apologies to the group and to Clay.

Any real or perceived nastiness aside, there was information in the posts that might be helpful to others dealing with sander swirl marks discovered in wood after stain was applied.

It was suggested paint thinner be used to remove the stain, rather than sanding through it. This is a good idea, if the stain is fresh.

Stains affected by paint thinner are made using linseed oil, a hardening oil, and will not wipe off after the stain has reacted with air and hardened. Too, the stain will remain in wood pours. For these reasons, if you want to save a lot of work and frustration (sanding and paper loading), try to wipe the stain off before it hardens.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

If you had worded the original in the same way I would have left it alone.


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## Dejure (Jul 27, 2009)

That you felt compelled to spank me some more, after I went out of my way to apologize and offer information I felt would not offend and be helpful is inspiring. 





Cherryville Chuck said:


> If you had worded the original in the same way I would have left it alone.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

And I thought it was a compliment at how well you did it.


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

Dejure said:


> That you felt compelled to spank me some more, after I went out of my way to apologize and offer information I felt would not offend and be helpful is inspiring.


I liked your tip,Kelley, and took it is a helpful way to solve a problem. Always there are more than one way to do things and new ways are always welcome to me.
Herb


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## firstmuller (Aug 28, 2014)

I have used the bottom of an old shoe (rubber sole) for the same thing. 
Allen


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