Most useless tool

I’ll probably get in trouble for this one, and it partly comes from
working with students who wrap the things in layers of masking tape
and binding wire, but I despise those little steel split mandrels
for sanding paper! The shanks are weak, the shaft is too short, and
there is no really effective way to hold the paper in. They stink.
Wherever possible, I get the students to use an abrasive cartridge
roll mandrel, wrap sandpaper around the handle of a needle file,
tape the end and mark the tape with the grit of paper in use, and
screw these hand made abrasive cartridges onto the much beefier,
available-in-a-range-of-thicknesses, longer and more solidly holding
mandrels. As if that weren’t enough, the cartridge mandrels have a
radiused shoulder from shank to shaft so they don’t bend as easily,
and the threads that hold the cartridge on the mandrel are sharply
tapered, so they really stay on! I was taught this at school by a
lovely and helpful tech…Thanks, Shona K. (credit where due)((All
above written while grinning, despite haughty tone))

Danny