Yeah, I'm wondering... People usually tend to remove sand (or gravel), block by block, while you can do a little trick: put torch underneath the sand! Yeah... That's it... That's all... I do believe, that this way of farming sand (or gravel) is much quicker and easier... You don't even need to be fast. Just watch my video, and you'll see what I'm talking about...

You can also use repeaters, signs etc.
The nice part is, that you don't damage any tools...