handheld belt sander or planer for reducing 10 oz veg tanned to 6 oz

[esantoro]

Happened to find myself in Sears today and came upon handheld belt sanders and planers that you move along the surface of your object.

How well might either of these work for reducing 10 oz vegetable tanned leather to 6 oz? Which would work better, the sander or the planer. For $100 this just might be the ticket.

Thanks,

Ed

[RandyScott]

Ed,

My experience with a hand held belt sander is that it is heavy, awkward and fast with lots of torque which makes it hard to get 'fine' control of it.

As to the planer, I assume you are refering to a powered planer used to thin lumber. It uses some sort of traction mechanism to grab and pull the lumber through the planer. So that action alone would leave traction marks on the leather. I have a neighbor that is a finish trim carpenter and when he turns his planer on, it wails like a banshee. I think the planer blades are spinning so fast it would burn the leather if it did not just eat it all. Hmmmm, I just re-read your post... are you referring to a 'hand held planer'? I don't have any experience with one but I think it would be even harder to control. I know a hand held belt sander will eat a 1/4" gouge in oak lumber in the blink of an eye.

Here is a link to an article "How to modify a spokeshare for paring leather", http://www.hewit.com/sd16-ss.htm, that I discovered some time ago. I just checked it and the link is still good. I found this on a leather bookbinding site, so it may have an application in your case.

I hope this helps.. good luck!

Randy

[esantoro]

Ed,

My experience with a hand held belt sander is that it is heavy, awkward and fast with lots of torque which makes it hard to get 'fine' control of it.

As to the planer, I assume you are refering to a powered planer used to thin lumber. It uses some sort of traction mechanism to grab and pull the lumber through the planer. So that action alone would leave traction marks on the leather. I have a neighbor that is a finish trim carpenter and when he turns his planer on, it wails like a banshee. I think the planer blades are spinning so fast it would burn the leather if it did not just eat it all. Hmmmm, I just re-read your post... are you referring to a 'hand held planer'? I don't have any experience with one but I think it would be even harder to control. I know a hand held belt sander will eat a 1/4" gouge in oak lumber in the blink of an eye.

Here is a link to an article "How to modify a spokeshare for paring leather", http://www.hewit.com/sd16-ss.htm, that I discovered some time ago. I just checked it and the link is still good. I found this on a leather bookbinding site, so it may have an application in your case.

I hope this helps.. good luck!

Randy

Hi Randy,

Thanks for the heads-up on the belt sander. What do you think about a circular sander or a gyrating sander?. I've noticed that sanding by hand can take down a 2" square section from 4 mm to about 3.8mm in 30 seconds or so. Since an hour of manual sanding can get rather tiring, I was thinking a circular or gyrating sander might be plan B.

I think at either Lowes or Home Depot I can try out these tools and return them if they don't work as needed.

Ed

[RandyScott]

Ed,

I don't have any experience with a hand held 'circular' sander. The 'gyrating', I think it is also known as an orbital sander, may be a better solution.

Just so we are on the same page: an orbital sander moves the face or platen rapidly back and forth in a short horizontal arc pivoting from the center of the platen. Some orbitals move the platen forward and back, some side to side, others in the arc motion described above.

It is easier to control, the weight is less, therefore less risk of gouging or sanding a divot in the leather.

There may be another type of obital sander that employes an off center mount yet spin or rotate the platen (hmmm.. circular?) to achieve a flat but somewhat random sanding pattern.

It this is the type you refer to, my concern again would be torque. The faster it spins, the more torque and with more torque controlling the sander becomes an issue.

Just a curiosity question or two Ed, what size workpiece are you trying to thin? How are you holding it flat?

Randy

[esantoro]

Randy,

I was thinking that there were two types of electric sanders, a circular one which spins around and an orbital one which gyrates.

For one project, I would be thinning three 17" x 12" pieces of 10 oz veg tan, one 17" x 26" piece, and two 5" x 42" pieces, with odds and ends.

I'll pick up the highest powered variable speed orbital sander I can get and give it a try. With the right grit and pressure everything should be controllable.

I'll post pictures.

Thanks,

Ed

Ed,

I don't have any experience with a hand held 'circular' sander. The 'gyrating', I think it is also known as an orbital sander, may be a better solution.

Just so we are on the same page: an orbital sander moves the face or platen rapidly back and forth in a short horizontal arc pivoting from the center of the platen. Some orbitals move the platen forward and back, some side to side, others in the arc motion described above.

It is easier to control, the weight is less, therefore less risk of gouging or sanding a divot in the leather.

There may be another type of obital sander that employes an off center mount yet spin or rotate the platen (hmmm.. circular?) to achieve a flat but somewhat random sanding pattern.

It this is the type you refer to, my concern again would be torque. The faster it spins, the more torque and with more torque controlling the sander becomes an issue.

Just a curiosity question or two Ed, what size workpiece are you trying to thin? How are you holding it flat?

Randy

[Ian]

Not to metion, of course, that a belt sander will shoot your piece of leather across the room as soon as you turn it on.

[esantoro]

Not to metion, of course, that a belt sander will shoot your piece of leather across the room as soon as you turn it on.

Would a handheld planer also shoot the leather across the room? My understanding is that I can set the planer to 1/64" depth and there would be less risk of the blade digging too far into the leather, as the flat base of the planer would serve as a level.

Ed

[tonyc1]

Ed, if you are really going to try any of these ideas I think you must be a masochist! Let us know how any of them work if you retain your sanity!

Tony.

[esantoro]

Ed, if you are really going to try any of these ideas I think you must be a masochist! Let us know how any of them work if you retain your sanity!

Tony.

Sanity left me a long, long, time ago.

Belt sander idea...gone.

Orbital sander... still a possibility and the safest bet. Will have to get one with a dust bag.

Handheld electric planer... seems a rather dangerous option, but the theoretical possibility is very tempting. And I'm beginning to think that this may be a real winner.

Ed

[tonyc1]

Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained!