Just a note on my first impressions.

I got a pair of medium 5" hook & loop discs for $10. It's supposed to
be an alternative to sandpaper, but I think it's more like a very
speedy rasp. I'll tell you how speedy. I was making a benchtop thingie
out of 2x4s, one of which was all mauled and splintery toward the end
of one edge. So I just ground it off with the Microplane. Took *maybe*
15 seconds to hog out a sort of tapering chamfer 1" wide by 3" long.
Smooth, too. If you slip and hit the workpiece with the edge, it
instantly puts a surprisingly deep and neat kerf where you don't really
need one.

I'd play with this on dimensional lumber a lot more before I'd try it
on any wood I'd want people to look at, and maybe not even then. But it
sure is great for rasping the living bejeezus out of stuff in no time,
and it leaves behind a very nice surface, as long as you dont bung the
edge into the work. A brutally fun thing, and I'll be looking for
chances to use it.

I used mine as a "power planer" when building a large
outdoor table from pressure treated pine. I did the
glue up and realized that a sander was not going to be
able to handle that wet, rough wood. The Microplane
disks just shaved her down perfectly flat.

boorite wrote:

Just a note on my first impressions.

I got a pair of medium 5" hook & loop discs for $10. It's supposed to
be an alternative to sandpaper, but I think it's more like a very
speedy rasp. I'll tell you how speedy. I was making a benchtop thingie
out of 2x4s, one of which was all mauled and splintery toward the end
of one edge. So I just ground it off with the Microplane. Took *maybe*
15 seconds to hog out a sort of tapering chamfer 1" wide by 3" long.
Smooth, too. If you slip and hit the workpiece with the edge, it
instantly puts a surprisingly deep and neat kerf where you don't really
need one.

I'd play with this on dimensional lumber a lot more before I'd try it
on any wood I'd want people to look at, and maybe not even then. But it
sure is great for rasping the living bejeezus out of stuff in no time,
and it leaves behind a very nice surface, as long as you dont bung the
edge into the work. A brutally fun thing, and I'll be looking for
chances to use it.

On 10 Sep 2006 13:57:28 -0700, "boorite" wrote:

Just a note on my first impressions.

I got a pair of medium 5" hook & loop discs for $10. It's supposed to
be an alternative to sandpaper, but I think it's more like a very
speedy rasp. I'll tell you how speedy. I was making a benchtop thingie
out of 2x4s, one of which was all mauled and splintery toward the end
of one edge. So I just ground it off with the Microplane. Took *maybe*
15 seconds to hog out a sort of tapering chamfer 1" wide by 3" long.
Smooth, too. If you slip and hit the workpiece with the edge, it
instantly puts a surprisingly deep and neat kerf where you don't really
need one.

I'd play with this on dimensional lumber a lot more before I'd try it
on any wood I'd want people to look at, and maybe not even then. But it
sure is great for rasping the living bejeezus out of stuff in no time,
and it leaves behind a very nice surface, as long as you dont bung the
edge into the work. A brutally fun thing, and I'll be looking for
chances to use it.

It sounds like a perfect tool for my wife.. she tends to use the ROS for rougher
work that I think it's built for, like sanding decks and stuff... And applying
way too much pressure, IMO..
Maybe I could at least get her to use the microplane first..
Mac

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