As you will all soon learn, I'm as cheap as can be. I don't have a lot of money, so I try not to waste much. One thing that I have made several of are small hand held sanding blocks. Here are the basic dimensions that I use, as well as my little twist on the old idea.
I think every shop has a few pieces of old scrap blocks laying around, I keep mine in a box and I sort through it when I need a black for whatever reason. The very piece that this calls for might be there somewhere in your shop!
You will need a 2 inch long piece of a 1x4 and a drawer knob. (The knob needs to be the kind that has the wood screw that goes through the drawer front that the knob threads onto the end of. This is key.)
You should have a block that is 3/4" thick, 3 and 1/2" long and 2 inch wide. Select a drill bit athe same size as the barrel (unthreaded part) of your wood screw. If the screw is full threaded, just go for a bit that is around 1/16th of an inch smaller than the screw outside thread diameter. Select a second bit that is 1/8th In. larger than the Head of the wood screw. The screw will need to hold fast in the block, so it is easier to go for a smaller bit and then fine tune it to a larger size.
Find the center of the block, in this case it will be one inch from the narrow edge and 1 and 3/4 from the long edge. Drill all the way through the block with the smaller bit at the center. Now, on the side of the block that will be the bottom, use the larger bit to drill a recess for the screw head to sit, it needs to be deep enough so that the screw head will not protrude at all.
Once you have that done, you should have a small block with a small through hole and a recessed hole. It is time to assemble.
From the side with the recess, screw the wood screw through the block until the screw head is below the surface of the wood. If it sits too high, you must make the recess a little deeper. Thread the knob onto the screw until the knob is against the block (NOTE; you may have to trim the end off the screw or drill a deeper hole in the knob.)
Once you have it done, you are ready to put the paper on. Instead of thumbtacks, rubber bands, or other stuff, all you need to do is cut the paper to a certain size 3.5 Inches by about 5 inches. (It isn't an exact science, you may want to test fit with copier paper or notebook paper to get it just right.)
You will want the paper long enough so that when the knob is backed off slightly, you can slip the edges of the paper under it and then screw the knob down onto it, holding it firmly in place. To help the sandpaper wear evenly across it's length, I slip a 3.5x2" piece of corrugated card between the paper and the block. Otherwise, around the hole and on the edges will be worn out while the rest is hardly touched at all.
When I go to the shop later today, I'll try to remember and take my camera so I can get a photo of my block.
Tips; I noticed that the first one I made was tricky to work with because the knob hadn't gotten good internal threads cut into it yet, I mounted the screw in my vice and ran the knob on and off the screw a few times and this made loading and unloading the block much easier.
