Crepes anyone?

Yesterday afternoon I was doing a little prep work for this weeks shoot. I was sanding some pine pieces using my bench top disc/belt sander. Pine has a lot of pitch in it and can gum up the sanding belts and discs quickly so you have to use a sanding block to clean them more often.

People thin I'm crazy when I do it but I go to my local thrift store and buy shoes with soles that are made out of crepe rubber. If you don't know what crepe rubber is you'll know it when you see it. Crepe rubber is used in the shoe industry to make soles with, but it is also used in the woodworking/abrasive industry to make sanding sticks(blocks) with.
When a sanding belt gets gummed up, making it useless to sand with, you simply rub the stick against the moving belt and it cleans the pitch off of it.

So- when I purchase a pair of shoes or boots that have crepe rubber soles I tear the soles off and just keep them. The folks at the front desk think I'm crazy. "Why would I pay for a pair of shoes and tear the soles off?"

The soles work perfectly. The last pair of shoes I bought cost me .99 cents. Much cheaper than buying a sanding stick. Why spend money when you don't have to?

As always - Thanks for following.
Be safe and be creative
Best
Steve