Sandpapering Metal - Does It Work?
Apparently it does.
But only on certain metals.
This post is long overdue, but around 2-3 weeks ago I did a few experiments with aluminium sheets. They're about 0.2 mm in thickness, I'm not sure. They're thicker than aluminium foil, but thinner than aluminium plates. Sheets of metal.
They tear easily but don't bend much. Cut a small indent at the edge and just pull through, like tearing a piece of paper.
Quite a few people mentioned metal welding, but I did not know how to acquire the equipment (yet!! You will see that I did weld metals in the upcoming updates) So at the time I thought, well this sheet is thin enough, maybe I can somehow sandpaper it to destruction.
Sandpapering metal. Now that's a first.
That small dent took about 10-15 minutes. The key is to bend the sheets before you sandpaper it, since bending makes the metal more pliable, and more prone to breakage.
The final result. It took me about an hour. At this point you and I will have realised that's it's way too much effort for the result. The effects are quite cool, the metal bends and folds at unexpected places, but it's nothing you can't get from wielding pliers at different angles. Still, I had to try it at some point. And I'm glad I did, because now I can safely say that you CAN sandpaper aluminium.