Regardless of the medium you generally work in, at some point you will find yourself trying to sand, buff or polish a small detail that is difficult to reach. It may be the inside edges of a custom aluminum bezel, or slots milled into a thermoform part. Every industry faces this challenge, and electric or air powered sanding tools generally do not fit or may be too aggressive for fine sanding tasks.

Emery boards are inexpensive, typically quite thin and very flat, making them excellent for sanding the inside of narrow slots. They can easily be cut with a utility knife for sanding into small areas. Unfortunately, they come in just a few grits, and the quality of the abrasive particles may not be good enough for high quality applications like jewelry making or metal polishing.

Sometimes, the simplest solution works best. Cut a small section from a sheet of sandpaper and tightly fold it to make it stiff enough to sand inside a small opening. This works best when using a fresh sheet with an unfolded paper backer. If you only have self-adhesive sanding discs on hand, a rectangle cut from the center will work, and the adhesive will stiffen the folded sandpaper.

A PSA sanding disc can also be stuck to a small piece of wood or metal and trimmed off to create a quick custom sanding stick. You can control the shape and size of your sanding tool with this technique, allowing for different profiles like rounds and triangles. When you are using your own sanding supplies to make custom sanders, you control the abrasive and grit, allowing you to get the best results for your application.

Although we shared some shop-made detail sanding solutions you can use in a pinch, having the right tools on hand just makes everything easier. This is why 2Sand.com carries Sanding Detailer Sticks. Sanding Detailer Sticks are small sanding belts mounted to a plastic holder that uses an internal spring to keep the sanding belt properly tensioned. The detailer sanding belts are available in seven grits from 80 to 600, and the Sanding Detailer Sticks themselves are molded in 7 colors so it is easy to quickly identify and choose the grit you want. Sanding Detailer Sticks are also available in a 24 piece Standard Detailer Stick kit and a 24 piece Finishing Detailer Stick kit.

The plastic bodies of the Sanding Detailer Sticks are carefully designed to hold the sanding belts firmly, while providing several faces, flat, round and angled, allowing you the flexibility to find the profile necessary for your sanding task. The belts are easily rotated around the Sanding Detailer Stick to extend the usable life of the sanding belt, and when a replacement sanding belt is needed, the change takes only a few seconds.

While we generally, and correctly, base our sanding choices on how quickly we can get a job done, sometimes a more thoughtful, delicate approach is needed. With these detail sanding tricks in mind, and a set of 2Sand.com Sanding Detail Sticks in your toolbox, you can advance the quality of your small sanding jobs to the same level as your larger jobs.