Sandpaper is sandpaper and if ever there was a product that one could buy as a 'value' item then this in my mind has got to be it. In our house sandpaper has several uses. Firstly it's got the regular DIY around the house use. Secondly, my husband likes to keep a variety of grades of sandpaper in his work bag for if he's called on to do a job that requires it for someone else (he runs a business building fitted furniture for others and also doing maintenance work for several local landlords). The third use is mine. I have a bit of a love for unusual hobbies and flit from thing to thing. Amongst my 'on the go projects' at the moment is a dolls house I'm doing up, and a couple of small coffee tables I've been sanding back and refinishing including decoupage to the tops.

Obviously in both of these hobbies I've had the need for sand paper, and I have to say I've found that this Tesco value stuff has answered quite nicely.

The Tesco Value Sandpaper (it's probably been re-branded as Tesco Everyday Value now, but last time I bought it, it was still just Value), is pretty darn cheap. I paid 76p for mine, but on the website at the moment it seems to have gone up to 96p which is quite a steep price increase.

Each of the sheets is 27.5cm x 22.5cm and I'd say it's of average thickness for sandpaper. I can fold and tear it easily enough to divide a sheet into easy to handle portions, but its firm enough to hold together reasonably well while in use.

You get a selection of different grades in the pack - two of them fine (P100), four medium (P80) and four course (P60) and it's easy enough to tell which is which by rubbing your finger across the front - or looking on the back at the info printed there if you prefer.

The course paper obviously is better for jobs that need a stronger action - in my case, I've used the coarser paper for removing the varnished finish from one of the tables I've been working on. It does the job well, but doesn't leave a particularly smooth finish. A quick buff with the medium and then the fine brings the wood to where I want it ready for whatever finish I put on there.

The fine paper is the one I also use for the dolls house work I do. Mostly it's silly little bits so I tear the paper into sixths or even eighths. Some of the things that require a brief sanding are things like skirting boards when cut to fit, and the same for coving. I find by sanding them lightly at the cut edges they have a better finish and fit together more closely. I actually have one other use for the sandpaper that's not of the normal kind but is dolls house related, and that is that I intend to use it for the floor of a parrot cage I've just bought for the previous house I built. (This current one is going to be a pub so not likely to require a parrot lol).

Most of the heftier work on the tables I do with the sandpaper wrapped around a small block of wood - it's easier to hold and helps you get a flatter finish too. For internal corners the corner of the block works quite nicely and for any finer work I have to use the paper alone which can get a tad fiddly, or go over to using a different tool and technique. I know I could probably do the job in much less time if I used a belt sander or other sanding tool, but I don't think I'd find the work as satisfying to be honest so for me this is preferable.

Overall, I'd say this is a reasonable purchase as long as you don't mind a mix of grades in your sandpaper. If the job your doing will require all course or all fine, then you may perhaps need to look elsewhere to get the best deal.