Sanding teak toerails? A handy tip...

[M. R. Bober]

After many years of having to switch to hand sanding to get to those areas blocked by stanchions, I have found an easier way. I recently purchased one of those oscillating saws, mine is a Dremel, but there are many others on the market. It has a flat blade designed with the teeth on the front edge. Wrapping the flat section with adhesive backed sandpaper allows me to sand almost 2" ahead of the tool's body, which is adequate to get behind the stanchions. Just be careful of the teeth!

https://www.dremel.com/en_US/products/- ... i-max-mm30

FWIW: The detail sander head for this tools is superior to my Porter Cable detail/profile sander (#422).

Mitchell Bober
Sunny Lancaster, (Where any day nice enough to sail is nice enough to be at the boatyard hurting your knees.) VA

[tjr818]

Be careful with that blade. There are several different real sanding attachments for Multi-tools.
Here is a link to one:
https://smile.amazon.com/CNBTR-Accessor ... anding+pad

[Joe Myerson]

I'm with Tim on the "be careful" part. I have a Fein Multimaster. I love it, but it's easy to over-sand with it. Just saying.
Joe

[Bob Ohler]

Great suggestions from each of you!

(Mitch, you decided not to go with the aluminum toe rails after all?)

[Paul D.]

Bit of a late fall story in praise of the Fein tool.

I have a generic version of the Fein tool, a Menards going-out-of-business-sale Multitool or something, and it is very useful. I had used my brother's original Fein tool and knew of the utility. Not only are they excellent with the sanding attachments for some of the more tricky brightwork we have aboard, but the cutting tool attachments work just as well.

After purchasing a proper cook set to replace my very old aluminum camping pots and pans aboard, we found the new large pot did not fit into the galley "hole" on the countertop. For over a year we stowed different pots in different lockers and even in the oven after being warned off trying to enlarge the 35 year old formica (Don't because it will surely chip and look bad!) because they just wouldn't go into the pot stowage hole, which we had used for over a decade.

This year I finally got pissed and declared I would find a solution, and if I created a much bigger job, often a frequent outcome, then so be it. The Fein tool really shined. I tried it on a piece of old formica I had at home and it seemed to work. A buddy and I headed up to the boat to install the autopilot and we enthusiastically thought, "Let's do this!" after achieving success on that major project.

He helped hold the light and worked dust control while I used the fine toothed curved half blade. I had bought a new one specifically for this job. After much deliberation and gnashing of teeth and wringing of hands - my buddy Thang is an engineer after all - we did decide to score and tape the formica first, but the cutting tool really did a nice job and you cannot tell the hole has been widened by an inch from the cut lines. My brother and fellow CD owner routed a a rabbet on the nice wooden cutting board I made for the top hatch lid and the deed was done.

Joy. the pots are now stowed in a nautically logical place once again, the galley still looks original and clean. And I still have all my fingers. The multi tool is that best of nautical performers, doing more than one task and pretty well at that.

Wait till you hear my sanding the toerail story...

[M. R. Bober]

Be careful with that blade. There are several different real sanding attachments for Multi-tools.
Here is a link to one:
https://smile.amazon.com/CNBTR-Accessor ... anding+pad

Excellent! I was not aware of their existence.
Thanks,
M

Update: Just ordered the item (12 Nov)