[mrennie]

Originally Posted by dataway

What holds the paper to the block?

You need to use PSA paper.

Most Durablocks and similar products are intended to be used with adhesive backed 2 3/4" wide sandpaper that you cut off the roll and stick onto the block. The blocks are designed to use the same width paper whether they are 5" long or 24" long.

I have a full kit of Durablocks and after a million hours of block sanding, I ended up using them all except except the longest one. A few spots required some homemade blocks from chunks of 3/4" hose. There are some other blocks that are fancier and may work better but in my experience the Durablocks work well.

You didn't ask about sandpaper brands...I tried Indasa, Norton (gold and champagne lines) and 3M (red and gold lines). I found for coarse sanding with 80 & 180, they all worked OK, but for 320 & 400 the Norton champagne line and 3M gold line were noticably better, and the 3M gold was better/longer lasting than the Norton champagne. The expensive papers last longer, cut better, and end up being cheaper considering your time and how much you use

I think trying to use non-PSA sheet paper with these type of blocks will be frustrating and result on lots of wasted paper.