How Sandpaper Is Made | Popular Woodworking

We visit a manufacturing facility to get the nitty-gritty on making abrasives.

In all likelihood sandpaper isn’t made the way you probably think it’s made.

In fact, what is most unusual about sandpaper manufacturing is how similar it is to publishing a magazine. Like publishing, making sandpaper begins with picking the right thickness of paper. There’s ink (the words on the back of your sandpaper). And then there’s the grit and the glue, which to me is similar to the stories we print in the magazine.

If the sandpaper manufacturer uses the right grit and the right glue, then the sandpaper will last a long time, it will cut quickly and it won’t clog. Use the wrong paper, grit or glue and the sandpaper will quickly end up in the trash.

Here at the magazine if we pick the right stories, then the readers keep the magazine for years, and refer to it to build…