Jimmy:

after teaching boomerangs for 10 years to 8th graders I would say that you're on the right foot.  I gave them a small piece of wood (1x2 or 1x1) to wrap the sand paper(80 or 100 grit) around.  They can do it in one hour if they work or 2 hours if they slide or try to do really good job.  Biggest problem I had was the kids wanted to sand "into" the edge of the paint stick, and thus making it narrower.  The other problem  was not rounding the leading edge enough, thus to much drag and loss of spin.  Steve Graham has done hundreds with elementary kids, you might want to check his site via usba.org.  good luck and have a blast.

 

john g

tucson