I was dead set against those new flexible sanding blocks until last week

Been doing body work for 22 years out of my shop in Akron, always used the old cork blocks for contour work. A younger guy I trained brought in one of those rubber flex blocks with the mesh pattern and I told him it was a gimmick. But when I had to feather a tricky fender curve on a '97 Civic, that block saved me 45 minutes of fighting with paper bunching up. Has anyone else switched from the old school way and actually seen better results?

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veramiller1mo ago

That '97 Civic fender is exactly what sold me on them too.

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coleman.seth1mo ago

Nah, I'm gonna push back a little here. @veramiller I get why that fender would sell you on them, but I've been doing body work almost as long and I still grab my cork block for anything with a real contour. Those flex blocks have this weird give that makes it harder for me to feel exactly where the high spots are, you know? They work fine for flat stuff but on a tight curve I feel like the paper still wants to skip around unless you really hold it just right. Plus I've had two of the mesh surface ones wear out way faster than a cork block ever does, and that replacement cost adds up. Guys in my shop tried pushing them on me too but I just keep going back to what I know works.

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