How We Made a DIY Sanding Mop for Curved and Contoured Wood

When my husband Bryan and I started restoring this antique dining table, we knew the legs were going to be the biggest challenge. They’re beautifully turned, full of curves and tight crevices, and no matter what method we tried — CitrusStrip, steel wool, sanding by hand, even sandblasting with extra‑fine walnut shell — we just couldn’t get them stripped down to bare wood the way we wanted.

After doing some research right here on YouTube, we came across something we’d never tried before: a sanding mop. You can buy them online from specialty woodworking shops, but we didn’t want to wait for shipping. We were in a time crunch, and honestly, we love a good DIY challenge. So we headed to our favorite hardware store (yes… Harbor Freight!) and grabbed everything we needed to make our own.

Cutting the Sandpaper

We started with five sheets of 120‑grit sandpaper, each measuring 9x11 inches. To get the most out of each sheet, we cut them into six pieces: thirds across the width (about 3 inches each), then in half at 5½ inches.

Nothing fancy here — just a basic pair of shop scissors. If you’ve got nice fabric scissors, don’t use those for this project!

Drilling the Center Hole

Once everything was cut, we stacked the pieces and drilled a 5/16-inch hole straight through the center of the whole stack. This is what allows the sandpaper “fingers” to spin freely once mounted on the bolt.

Making the Sanding Fingers

This part felt a little like arts and crafts for woodworkers. We cut narrow fingers into each piece, roughly ¼ inch wide. We didn’t measure each one — just eyeballed it. The only important thing is to leave a solid center area so the washer has something to grip without tearing through.

Assembling the Mop

To build the mop, we alternated the sandpaper pieces grit‑side up, grit‑side down. This helps the mop flare out evenly. Then we slid everything onto a 4-inch 5/16-inch bolt, added a large flat washer on each side, and tightened it all down with a stop nut.

Priming and Testing

Before using it on the table legs, we chucked the mop into a hand drill and “primed” it on a scrap fence picket. This fluffed the fingers out nicely and gave it the shape it needed to reach into all those curved areas.

Once it was shaped, we tested it on the antique table leg — and it worked surprisingly well! It’s a little hard to control in a hand drill, and we did notice a few pieces chipping off, so durability might be a concern. But for under $10 in materials, it’s a budget-friendly alternative to the $30–$45 versions you can buy online.

Final Thoughts

For a quick, inexpensive shop-made tool, this DIY sanding mop really impressed us. It helped us get into the tight contours of the table legs where hand sanding just wasn’t cutting it. We’ll keep using it throughout this restoration and see how it holds up over

time.

If you enjoyed this project or want to check out the full antique table restoration series, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel or bookmark our website.

Happy woodworking!