A grip-and-rip tip for loading paper on a palm sander

I love my 1/4-sheet orbital finishing sander, and use on nearly every project.

It's lightweight, produces little dust, and is by far the most forgiving of all power sanders.

I also like the fact that the sander accepts standard sandpaper that you cut to size. There's no need to buy special--and often expensive or hard-to-find--abrasive disks or precut sheets.

Every orbital finishing sander, also known as a palm sander because of its compact design, has two paper clamps that hold a 1/4-sheet of sandpaper against the tool's sanding pad.

When the sandpaper becomes dull or tears, you must open the clamps, remove the old sandpaper and then insert a new sandpaper piece under the clamps.

That three-step dance can quickly become annoying when you've got a lot of sanding to do.

But I, a veteran three-stepper, have developed a much faster method.

Cut a standard 9 x 11-inch sheet of sandpaper into quarters. Then take all four pieces and slip them under the paper clamps on the sander.

Now when the sandpaper needs replacing, simply tear it off to expose a fresh new piece; there's no need mess with the clamps or waste time looking for more sandpaper.

Depending on your particular sander and the coarseness of the abrasive, you can usually load between four and six pieces of sandpaper onto the sander.

Now an orbital sander isn't powerful enough to smooth rough boards or remove paint (use a belt sander or random-orbit sander for those demanding tasks), but it's ideal for easing sharp edges, smoothing wood before applying stain, and for sanding between applications of a topcoat finish, such as polyurethane.

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