What's a good type of sandpaper to use?

[Dervish]

Hi! :silly:

I'm trying to become more proficient at shinai maintenance, but there is one burning question I have -- what's a good type of sandpaper to use? I bought 3M 800 grit sandpaper at Home Depot; it was apparently the finest sandpaper they had and I figured it was best to err on the side of caution.

Thanking you all in advance!

[turboyoshi]

I use a 150 grit but I would like to find something a little finer like a 220. 800 is really a polishing grit and might not be coarse enough.

[ジャン]

i vote for 220! 180 is a little bit too coarse for my taste

[tagonagy]

I use 60 grit to do most of the shaping, 100 grit gets gummed up too easily, and then I finish off with 000 steel wool.

[ender84567]

I like those sanding sponges you find by the wood stain in the supermarket, keeps your fingers away from any splinters, I think they only come in fine, medium and course grit, I use the medium.

[ジャン]

I like those sanding sponges you find by the wood stain in the supermarket, keeps your fingers away from any splinters, I think they only come in fine, medium and course grit, I use the medium.

so true.. if you use taiwanese bamboo i'd definitely suggest a sponge. lately i rammed a 3cm splinter into my right index finger. it didn't hurt at all when i took it out with a pincer and that was NOT very reassuring

[Dervish]

Thanks for the posts, everyone! I'll probably end up getting 220 grit or the medium sanding sponge.

[ben]

Those little paddle-shaped scrapers with sharkshin on them are pretty cool. But I prefer using a shinai kezuri (http://sakurado-okayama.ocnk.net/data/sakurado-okayama/_/70726f647563742f613932363833613265652e6a7067003330 3000.png) (scraper), followed by burnishing the bamboo to compress the fibres. Scraping produces tiny, curly shavings, and less dust than sanding which can be toxic to lungs. The scraper also lasts longer than the sandpaper. And it doesn't burr the bamboo fibres but planes them, leaving a smoother and IME longer lasting surface.

Scraping will reveal new bamboo which is paler in colour. Burnishing then returns the bamboo to a darker golden hue that matches the rest of the bamboo for hardness. A little wax rubbed along each edge of the slat helps it slide smoothly against its neighbour and may also prevent dehydration.

b

[yoda-waza]

My favorite is made from the sand of Ganryu Island.

[Yan Ling]

I like to use coarse paper at first then switch over to fine grit to smooth it out

[b8amack]

I sometimes use a scraper, like Ben, but by and large I throw away the shitty staves. Once you get enough decent staves in the graveyard, then replacing them once they start to splinter works better, for me. Maybe I'm too keen with the scraping or sanding, but I always find them not meeting well, once you start shaving away at them. Worst case you get that solid bar at the first joint.

[rfoxmich]

I agree with the shinai kezuri folks. With practice you don't need no stinkin' sandpaper.

[ender84567]

I do use a shinai kezuri for rough removal, my problem with them is they often leave sharp corners which are prone to further splintering, always round over any sharp cuts made by the kezuri to try and minimize future splintering.

[ben]

I do use a shinai kezuri for rough removal, my problem with them is they often leave sharp corners which are prone to further splintering, always round over any sharp cuts made by the kezuri to try and minimize future splintering.

This is where the burnishing comes in. With the little notch in the corner of the kezuri's sheath, or with something else hard like an old-fashioned coke bottle or Kikkoman shoyu bottle, press down as hard as you can on the edge of the shinai slat and rub back and forth over the area.

b

[jd111]

This is where the burnishing comes in. With the little notch in the corner of the kezuri's sheath, or with something else hard like an old-fashioned coke bottle or Kikkoman shoyu bottle, press down as hard as you can on the edge of the shinai slat and rub back and forth over the area.

b

i use the coke bottle technique! was told to try it by the guys at nipponbudo in paris, it works!