Half Sheet Finishing Sander

  I am showing my age I guess, but I remember when this type of sander was very common and popular in all types of woodworking shops.  Then for a while belt sanders seemed to be everywhere, I have a couple of them too, but mostly you see 5inch/8hole random orbital sanders most often now days.


  In this blog I am showing my age and my new sander.  It is a very fine tool, the quality of finish it provides is excellent and the integrated dust collection is so good that I don't have to hook it up to my noisy old shop vac when I am using it.  Last weekend I was in London and go talking with the Bosch Sales Rep and he was telling me that almost no one buys these sanders any more, mostly I suspect because they are twice as costly as a 5 inch random orbital and also somewhat less versatile.  I didn't buy it just to be different, I bought it because I remember the quality of finish I got from the sander I had some years ago, that I worked to death and replaced with a my first belt sander.


   I make cutting, cheese and presentation boards as well as small boxes and the like  so I am nearly always sanding on a flat surface in a good position and can go with the grain all the time.  Since the work is downward the weight of the sander is also not an issue. (by the way this sander is light and well balanced, I use it one handed sometimes) All those things make a finishing sander a good tool for my shop.   I also confess to using belt sanders, scrub planes and a variety of random orbital sanders as well as a 1/4 sheet finishing sander with 500 grit paper on it to making my boards.

This is a cutting board I just finished made from elm and cherry, finished mirror smooth using my new sander in combination with the other planes and sanders.