I greatly prefer a belt sander, which removes material at the same

rate everywhere. Disc sanders don't flatten surfaces very well because

the outside cuts faster. My father had a disc for his Shopsmith. The

paper came partly unglued and gouged the edge of the saw table.

When I had an art fabrication shop in NY me and my co-workers found the 12in. disc sander to be one of the most useful tools. I suppose it depends on what you're doing.

I lived in southern Germany in the early 1970's. You have some

first-class hobby stores there!

Not anymore!

And a milder climate. Ours is like central Russia, +40C in summer

and -20C in winter.

True, it has only frozen in Cologne one or two days this winter. It's not usually this warm though. Last year my daughter x-country skied to kindergarten for much of January!