PORTABLE

SANDPAPER
STORAGE

© 2009 August Home Publishing Co.

 Feature
Project

Portable Sandpaper Storage

This handy dispenser keeps all your most commonly used grits of sandpaper
within easy reach.

N othing dampens my enthusi-

asm for sanding more than
having to look high and low for the
right sandpaper. That’s why I decided
to build the portable sandpaper stor-
age box you see in the photos.
The box has three small compart-
ments, sized to hold three rolls of self-
adhesive sandpaper. (I like 41⁄2"-wide
rolls.) As you can see in the photo
at right, the rolls simply drop inside
with the loose end facing up. Finger
cutouts in the front make it easy to lift
the lid and get to the sandpaper.
But there’s no reason to remove
the sandpaper to tear off a piece. A
recessed hacksaw blade attached
to the underside of the hinged lid
makes this a snap.
Best of all, a pair of cleats make it {  Easy-Access Compartments. Just the right
easy to hang the box anywhere, or size for a 41⁄2" roll of abrasive, the storage box
take it right to the job at hand. holds the sandpaper you use most often.

1 www.Woodsmith.com © 2009 August Home Publishing Co. All Rights Reserved.

(CROSS SECTION) PART NAME w/LETTER

XXXX PART NAME

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXX
4!!/16 A NOTE: ALL BOX
BACK PARTS ARE
1
FIGURE END
(4#/4" x 15") !/2" PLYWOOD
(4#/4" x 5!/4")
This sandpaper storage box is a C
great accessory to have on hand
in the shop, and it’s a pretty quick XXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 1
project. The box is made entirely E
1 XXXXXXX
out of ⁄2" plywood and assembled
Awith D E glued Hbutt
B Csimple J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z AA BB C C
I joints. D D E E F F GG H H I I SS T T !/2"UU V V WW X X Y Y Z Z
RADIUS
Construction. Start by cutting the A
front, back, sides, and dividers to 5!/8

size. As you see in Figure 1, the END VIEW

(CROSS SECTION)
front and dividers are recessed to CL
WOODSCREW 5!/8
support the lid when it’s closed. In
E
a minute you’ll see why I did this. DIVIDER ALL THE BOX
PARTS ARE SIMPLY
OP VIEW But, before you glue it all together, (3#/4" x 3#/4")
END GLUED TOGETHER
make the finger cutouts on the D DIVIDER
S SECTION) front (Figure 1). I used the drill BOTTOM B
(3#/4" x 15") FRONT
press and a Forstner bit to drill a FRONT BOTTOM
XXXX WOODSCREW (4!/4" x 15") BACK
XXXXXXXXXX
hole at the bottom of each cutout
XXXXXXX and then removed the waste with
2
FIGURE
a jig saw. Once all these pieces are ATTACH UPPER
CLEAT TO BOX
cut to size, go ahead and glue the POSTERBOARD STRIP
MAKES SANDPAPER GRIT
pieces together to make the box. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S C D D E E F F GG H H I I
AA BB C EASY
T U V W X Y ZIDENTIFICATION
Lid. Now you can cut the lid to G
CLEAT
size. But before you attach it to (1" x 15")
the box, there are couple
PART NAME of other
w/LETTER F
things you’ll want to do. LID
(4" x 14&/8")
First, rout a centered dovetail-
PART NAME
shaped groove in the top of the lid
(Figure 2a). This groove holds a TWO HACKSAW
BLADES CUT
posterboard label strip. This way, 14&/8"
TO FIT AND
OODSCREW EPOXIED IN PLACE
you’ll know exactly
(CROSSwhat grit sand-
SECTION)
CONTINUOUS
HINGE
paper you’re using. A dovetail bit
XXXX G
mounted in a router table does a
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
good job of routing the groove.
XXXXXXX
ATTACH
LOWER CLEAT END VIEW a.
Switch to a straight bit to rout a TO WALL CLEAT
WITH SCREWS #/4 1#/4
shallow rabbet in the front, bottom !/16

edge of the lid. This rabbet holds a
couple sections of hacksaw blade.
Before gluing the blades in place
with epoxy, cut off the rounded
ends and file them square (Figures
2 and 2a). Now, when you hold the
lid down, the serrated blade makes
it easy to tear off a piece of sandpa-
per just the length you need.
Once you’ve added the blades,
WOODSCREW
attach the lid using a short section
of continuous hinge.
Cleats. Finally, mount the box
with a couple of plywood cleats.
The cleats have beveled edges and
are ripped from a single workpiece
(Figure 2 and the photo at right).
One cleat attaches to the back of
the box and the other is screwed { A simple cleat allows you to hang the
in place wherever you need to have box in a convenient location, keeping
sandpaper close at hand.
NOTE: ROUT SEE FIGURE 2a
SLOT WITH
DOVETAIL BIT FOR MORE
INFORMATION
LID CUT SHALLOW
RABBET FOR
HACKSAW BLADES
Materials
A Ends (2) 4#/4 x 5!/4 - !/2 Ply.
B Front (1) 4!/4 x 15 - !/2 Ply.
C Back (1) 4#/4 x 15 - !/2 Ply.
D Bottom (1) 3#/4 x 15 - !/2 Ply.
E Dividers (2) 3#/4 x 3#/4 - !/2 Ply.
F Lid (1) 4 x 14&/8 - !/2 Ply.
G Top/Bottom Cleat (2) 1 x 15 - !/2 Ply.
• (2) Hacksaw Blades
• (1) !/2" x 14&/8" Continuous Hinge w/Screws
• (2) #6 x 1!/4" Fh Woodscrews
sanding supplies close at hand.

2 www.Woodsmith.com © 2009 August Home Publishing Co. All Rights Reserved.