Fold Sandpaper in Quarters With a Rip So Grit Never Rubs Grit

The Problem

A flat sheet of sandpaper is an awkward hand tool: folded in half, the grit faces grind against each other and dull the paper from the inside; used flat, it slips around and only one patch ever wears. Most of a sheet ends up in the trash with its grit intact.

The Technique

1. Fold the sheet in half, then in half again, and open it back up — you've creased it into four quarters.
2. Tear or cut one slit along a crease, from the edge of the sheet to the center point. One rip, no further.
3. Fold the panels over each other around the slit so the sheet stacks into a quarter-sheet pad. Folded this way, every grit face lands against a paper back — never against another grit face.
4. Sand with it. The pad locks together instead of sliding apart, it's a comfortable hand size, and both outer faces are working grit.
5. When those two faces dull, open the pad and refold it the other way around — two fresh faces come to the outside.

One sheet, four usable faces, nothing wasted — and no grit-on-grit contact wearing the paper out between them.