The bucket and the beat by Michael Fallarino

The Sandpaper Tree

Everyone knows that money doesn’t grow on trees, but sandpaper is another story. Some sandpaper trees are native to sub-Saharan Africa and Australia, but they can be grown as decorative outdoor plants in frost-free areas and even kept as indoor potted plants. One popular species, the African sausage tree (Kigelia pinnata—hey—it was a plant of the month at Floridagardener.com) can grow higher than 50 feet, sports bright red flowers, and clusters of medicinal fruit that reportedly start out as phallic looking objects but grow into two-feet-long sausage-like shapes that weigh about 15 pounds! But it’s the 20-inch-long abrasive leaves that are harvested for use as sandpaper. Or at least used as a polishing aid.

Fortunately, modern manufacturing can bypass much of the natural world to make the sanding and polishing life easy and replete with exacting choices of papers and tools. Most small outlets stock aluminum oxide and perhaps silicon carbide paper. But papers come in four common species and a number of weights—or substrate thicknesses—to which the wedged-shaped abrasive particles are bonded with the bases of the wedges glued to the paper and the points sticking up and prepared to modify something.

Identifying Field Marks
For Papers Commonly Spotted in Retail Habitats

Tan: Aluminum oxide, a wide-wedged, very hard synthetic made by purifying bauxite, an aluminum ore. It has all but overrun the habitat of the now extinct flint paper (or silicon dioxide, which was made from quartz). An excellent all-purpose paper that excels on harder surfaces.

Orange: Garnet, a narrow-wedged moderately hard natural paper made from almandite, which is not reconstituted almond shells—but paradoxically—a violet-colored aluminum iron garnet. This paper is favored by woodworkers because, many allege, the particles fracture in the process of sanding thus revealing progressively smaller cutting surfaces. An excellent all-purpose paper that excels where critical control is a factor, such as on softer surfaces like pine.

Black: Silicon Carbide, sharpest of the synthetic abrasives, has very hard particles bonded to its paper with waterproof glue so that it’s appropriate for wet-sanding oil-type finishes or for taking your craft project into the swimming pool. This maximally aggressive paper also excels on metal, plastic, and in buffing successive coats of clear finishes.

White with silvery-gray stripes: Stearated or no-load paper is a highly underutilized form of silicon carbide that contains a lubricating metallic soap (stearate). It may also contain less particles per sheet to help facilitate the continual release of the substrate being sanded. Although it commands a premium, it’s a superlative all-purpose paper well-worth the money.

In-store marketing tips for the educated consumer and pro on the run

• Consider assembling a sales-friendly sanding center with a coherent layout. Thoughtfully arrange papers, sanding blocks, power sanders, specialty abrasive tools, flood lights, and safety equipment such as dust masks and finger-protecting sundries.

• Some rubber sanding blocks mark (like shoes that scuff). Don’t stock them.

• Teach consumers that changing paper frequently greatly speeds the task at hand. The tactile difference between new paper and moderately worn paper is easily discerned by the fingertips and translates into time.

• For exterior recoat jobs that require substantial scraping, 40 to 60 grit D-weight paper can speed the work and produce superior results. Don’t sell these papers short.

• C-weight paper is okay for fast stock removal, but stock A-weight papers for 180-grit and upward to enhance precision on more delicate tasks such as sanding contours, profiles, and fine finishes.

To read more about the lost art of sanding and its place within the rhythmical nature of life on earth, see the books Contemporary Relationships between Wood & Finish by Michael Fallarino and Understanding Wood Finishing by Bob Flexner. [March 2002]

©2002 Michael Fallarino/Pan-Global Gumbo SM, Ltd.