all sandpaper – whether on belt sanders, orbital disk sanders or drum sanders – will eventually collect glue, varnish or other “gunk,” making these machines nearly unusable. So I’ve used sandpaper cleaning sticks to remove this unwanted buildup. While working on a project recently, I was out of cleaning sticks and needed to clean my last sanding belt, but didn’t want to spend an hour running to the store for a cleaning stick or more sandpaper. Since most cleaning sticks are made of some type of rubber compound, I liberally spread contact cement on a piece of scrap plywood, let it dry and then sanded it off. Within a few minutes the sanding belt was like new.
