There are lots of jobs around the house, and around the car that require sanding. And that is mostly a really messy operation. But Jen Cook from 3M has a solution for us. Jen, welcome to Goss’ Garage.

JEN COOK: Thank you for having me today, Pat.

PAT GOSS: Alright, now, you’ve got some body filler here. And that’s got to be the worst in the world when it comes to sanding.

JEN: Yes, yes it is. Traditional sanding methods like the rubber block you see here can create a lot of dust. Not only that, but getting the sand paper on the block can sometimes be tedious. You’re folding this back, you’re sliding it in to some metal teeth there, and clamping it down. And it’s just difficult.

So 3M has come out with what we call the new 3M Clean Sand System, and it’s basically a sanding block that features one of our premium abrasives. You can see on the block here, there are some holes. In the sand paper there are some holes, and this just attaches with hook and loop; very easy on-off. And as I’m sanding, the dust is sucked through the holes, into the hose, down through the hose into my shop-vac hose, and down into my shop-vac. So I have a lot less of a messy environment as I’m working.

PAT: Okay, so it connects into the shop-vac; that does away with the dust. I like that. Alright now, the question then probably somebody is going to say, “well, but you do all this stuff with power tools.” But that’s not true.

JEN: That’s not always true. You’re right. I think a lot of people have a misconception that thing are done with power tools a lot. And they can be. When you’re doing something like body repair, you have a lot of crevices and things to get into sometimes; a lot of times it’s easier to be able to hand sand. You can see what you’re doing, you can sometimes slow down and make sure you’re not extending the damage further than you would like. And this system retails for about $29.99; when you’re looking at power tools, sometimes they’re at least double that, if not more.

PAT: Right. Okay, but not only are we talking about body work, but all kinds of applications around the house.

JEN: Yes, absolutely. You can use this sanding drywall. If you have a small repair that you’re doing for drywall, I would sand that with it. Marine repair; if I have a fiber-glass situation where I’m repairing fiber-glass. So I need to sand that. Also doing wood repair, with wood filler. This is a great solution for that.

PAT: Okay. And the sand paper is available in all popular grits.

JEN: yes, the sand paper is available in five different grits, ranging from 80 all the way up to 600. And that’s really important, not only for the body repair process, but also for other types of applications that you might be doing. You might need that range of grits, depending on the application. And most of those applications that I mentioned, you’re doing some kind of painting, or you’re doing some kind of staining at the end. And by eliminating that dust up front, you’re reducing you’re work time, because you don’t have all that dust to clean up at the end.  And by having a cleaner work environment, you’re not getting defects in your paint.

PAT GOSS: Great, thank you. And if you have a question or a comment, drop me a line, right here, at MotorWeek.