"NoOne N Particular" wrote in message
t...



I am not offering any advice here, but merely asking a kind of follow-up
question. Several people have mentioned the planer and while not
necessarily recommending one they have talked about it usefulness. But it
seems to me that since Andy has mentioned things like cabinet work,
furniture, and blanket chests that one of those drum sanders could prove
to be very useful. I have not built large pieces like that, but I have
built smaller projects that made me think how sweet one of those things
could be. I also think that if I had a lot of good wood that needed to
"planed" that a drum sander would be preferred to a planer. especially if
the wood had some sort of figure that may chip out during planing.

The two negatives that I see to this are that the sanders are a tad pricey
and dust collection would not be an option. It is also more money than
Andy said he had to spend, but I'm sure his arm could be twisted enough to
stretch the old budget a little. :-)

Wayne


Good observation however for general planing the drum sander is going to be
way expensive as the sand paper will not last as long as the knives will
stay sharp. The sander will be very slow by comparison and many many
passes are necessary to remove typical amounts of wood and the passes are
about half the speed when going fast, as a planer goes on slow. That said,
a drum sander is a great tool to use after the planer for reasons you have
mentioned about tear out and if you make a lot of your own veneer.
As you pointed out, the drum sanders are pricey but about the same price as
a similar sized planer. My 22/44 sander was about the same price as my 15
stationary Delta planer.
Unless I was working strictly with small stock for small projects I would
not consider a drum sander over a planer.