I like a flex shaft mounted with a fractional HP 1725 motor. It allows me
to sand the way some people scrape, by resting the handpiece on the toolrest
and allowing the work to come to it. Of course, I can also sand the way
others do, with pressure on the work, but there is a limit past which the
flex shaft twists and stalls.

Sanding with so little pressure on the piece increases paper life, decreases
surface hardening, and virtually prevents "soft" syndrome, where the spalted
areas or face grained areas are sanded away, leaving the harder areas high.
Each grit starts basically across the direction of rotation to get out the
last, then finishes basically with, since I can choose the contact portion
of the disc, or I can mix directions for almost a random orbit effect.

Old washing machine motor and
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...rency =2&SID=


"Larry Day" wrote in message
...
I'm looking at getting a "power" sander and I'm looking for some advice or
recommendations. I currently use Sorby's inertia sander that works well on
the outside of bowls but it doesn't work to well in the center of the bowl.
I'm considering the Souix angle drills and don't know if the slow speed or
high speed is the one to use or should I just use a power drill. Any ideas
or opinions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.