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Tassel Taquito (Cove Cannoli) Sanding Tool

Joined
Jun 6, 2018
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Location
La Grange, IL
I picked up this small round and very ugly throw pillow for cheap at a thrift shop, which I thought I’d use on my shop stool. Among it’s ugly features were a bunch of yarn tassels that I promptly cut off and tossed in the trash.
Thus cushioned I perched on my stool and contemplated the sanding task in front of me, how to better get at the inside surfaces of this deeply undercut piece.

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It was at the limits of what I could reach with my fingers and my finger tips weren’t making good uniform contact between the sandpaper and the wood. What I needed was some kind of sanding block or sponge that would conform to the curvature….
Hmm... What I needed was something I’d just thrown away.
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A tassel was the perfect size to fold up in a 3” disk like a mini taco (or do you see a cannoli?). It worked great. It was easy to grasp, did a nice job reaching the bottom of the cove and evenly distributed the surface of the abrasive.

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This trick might be useful in other scenarios, such as sanding a cove molding. I also found it useful to sand the bottom of the inside of the piece, where I was otherwise using the backs of my fingers. The tassel seems just about ideal for this technique, but a loose ball of string or strips of rag balled up might work, too. On the other hand if you wander by some tasseled thing, I won’t tell if a couple of three end up in your pocket.
 
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