I tried flattening my workbench with a hand plane and then a belt sander, and the belt sander won in 10 minutes flat.

The hand plane took me an hour and still left high spots, but the belt sander with 80 grit made it level in 10 minutes and I didn't even break a sweat, has anyone else had way better luck with power over hand tools for this?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_elizabeth9d ago

The belt sander works but leaves swirl marks that need finer sanding afterwards.

smith.ray9d ago

Yeah, that "leaves swirl marks" bit hits close to home. I've had the same exact problem with my belt sander on some oak pieces. Its super frustrating because you think you're speeding things up, but then you end up spending more time trying to fix those marks. I usually just go straight to a random orbital sander after the belt sander to clean it up, but its still an extra step I wish I didnt have to do. Have you found a way to reduce the swirl marks while actually using the belt sander, or do you just accept it as part of the process?