Supercharge Your Sander for Paint Removal in Record Time
Mounted on a power sander, foamed recycled glass turns paint stripping from a chemical chore into a mechanical one. These blocks outperform and outlast sanding sponges and sandpaper - and they never go dull, never clog, and never catch on nails, screws, splinters or corners.
Three Mounting Styles
- Quarter-sheet blocks for palm sanders - the workhorses, in extra-coarse (varnish and paint removal, roughly twice the speed of conventional abrasives), coarse (rough-wood prep; one sheet equals the working life of about 21 quarter-sheets of sandpaper on latex paint), and rusted-metal formulations that strip rust, paint and scale with less airborne dust.
- Blocks for detail (mouse) sanders - coarse 40-60 grit for flat wood surfaces (one block outlasting up to 10 sheets of sandpaper), medium 80-100 grit for general work, and fine 100-120 grit for finishing.
- Drill-mount discs - professional-grade stripping for curved and awkward work, in coarse and rusted-metal versions for preparing metal surfaces for repainting.
The Case Against Chemical Strippers
Stripping paint with foamed glass means no methylene-chloride fumes, no caustic gels, no neutralizing rinse and no hazardous slurry to dispose of. The glass abrades coatings into dry dust that collects like ordinary sanding waste. One important caveat: on any home built before 1978, assume old paint may contain lead and follow the EPA's Renovation, Repair and Painting rules - containment, HEPA cleanup and certified practices apply to any paint-disturbing method, mechanical or chemical.
Why It Doesn't Clog or Dull
Sandpaper fails two ways: its grit dulls, and its surface loads up with melted paint. Foamed glass does neither. The block is abrasive all the way through, exposing sharp new cells as it wears, and the open-pore structure sheds debris instead of caking. That is why a single block routinely replaces a tall stack of sandpaper sheets - and why it shrugs off the nail heads and board edges that shred paper in one pass.
For hand work without a power tool, see the companion hand sanding blocks. Technique notes are on the tips page, and refinishers' field reports are collected under user experiences.