Wedged Sanding Block

Here’s a handy sanding block that uses a belt from my portable belt sander. I tighten the belt on the sanding block by tapping in a simple wood wedge, see photo. 

The sanding block is easy to make — especially since the wedge is cut from the block. The only tricky part is knowing how long a block to start with. 

To find out, slip scraps of wood inside the belt and slide them toward the ends, see Fig. 1. Then measure the inside length of the belt and add 3/16" for the saw kerfs. After cutting the block to length, just round over the ends to match the curve of the belt. Then cut the wedge on a bandsaw.