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

[Windy]

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

Ed,

I own both of these and never tried either one. I can tell you my brother

has sanded the back of some leather to get it smooth and it worked for him.

They make small belt sanders nowadays that would be easier to control. You

could try a random orbit sander which would be easier to control. If you try

the hand held planer I would suggest you start in the middle and work towards

the outside. If you try and start on the edge you will more than likely pick up

the edge and suck it in to the planer thus ruining your leather and probably

your pants.The hand held planers are very fast and very aggressive. They work

great on wood. If I had to do what you are planning I would buy a small belt

sander with a fifty grit belt and work to finer grits till you get the leather the

way you want it. Like always this is just my most humble opinion. You have got

my curiosity aroused , if I find time this weekend I might try planning a piece of

leather.

WINDY

[esantoro]

Ed,

I own both of these and never tried either one. I can tell you my brother

has sanded the back of some leather to get it smooth and it worked for him.

They make small belt sanders nowadays that would be easier to control. You

could try a random orbit sander which would be easier to control. If you try

the hand held planer I would suggest you start in the middle and work towards

the outside. If you try and start on the edge you will more than likely pick up

the edge and suck it in to the planer thus ruining your leather and probably

your pants.The hand held planers are very fast and very aggressive. They work

great on wood. If I had to do what you are planning I would buy a small belt

sander with a fifty grit belt and work to finer grits till you get the leather the

way you want it. Like always this is just my most humble opinion. You have got

my curiosity aroused , if I find time this weekend I might try planning a piece of

leather.

WINDY

Windy,

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I hope you get to some experimentation yourself this weekend.

I think the orbital sander will be good to have on hand anyway.

Regarding the planer, I hope that a cutting depth of only 1/64" to 1/32" won't pose much of a problem.

Ed

[Bree]

Ed...

For this kind of thing and no splitter, I like the drill press drum sander but you haven't got the drill press so try this.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/disp...temnumber=97181

You can use the top where it curves round just like a drum sander. Heck it might even work better. For $80 it's a steal. I may go over and get one myself.

[Windy]

Ed,

Being as I had the afternoon off. I took some leather

back in the woodshop to play around with your idea.

Well the planer worked real nice on an old belt. I

worked out from the middle to the belt tip and buckle

end.On the ends when the front shoe of the plane

leaves the leather it cuts a low spot about an inch in

from the end, in woodworking terms this is called snipe.

If you are going to try it, make sure you have about two

inches extra on the edges to allow for the snipe.I ended

up with a finish just a wee bit longer rougher than suede.

With a new planer and nice new sharp blades you may get

a smoother finish.I did not have any wider leather I wanted

to make thinner so I did not get to try it on anything wider

than the old belt. It will probably work on wider leather as

long as you hold the planer firmly against the leather to

keep the leather flat while planning it.I meant to ask my

brother about the belt sander finish when I talked to him

today alas it slipped my mind. I probably should have tried

the belt sander while I was in their messing around ,I just

was not in the mood for anything dusty. Since the batteries

for my Trident air thingy are both rundown.Thanks to the

Christmas present build off.

WINDY

[esantoro]

just got back from The Home Depot. Planer and orbital sander for $150. Ten minutes playing with it all. Not bad....not bad at all. The planer isn't as scary nor as loud as I thought it would be. I'll play more tomorrow and post pictures and results.

ed

[esantoro]

............................................................Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

.......................

The jury is still out.

[tonyc1]

So, should we hold our breath,Ed?

[esantoro]

So, should we hold our breath,Ed?

I think the results will be surprising but not spectacular. I still have to get used to the planer. I'm beginning to see a method taking shape.

1. Plane in two or three passes at the shallowest setting, 1/64".

2. Give it the once over with the random orbital sander with 40 or 50 grain paper.

I can see that results will be better with larger work pieces than with the odd shaped scraps of skirting leather I'm currently using

The dust collectors on both the sander and the planer don't seem to work well with leather or at all.

I'm using a Milwaukee sander, $70, and a Ryobi planer, $70.

Not aware of how these planers actually work, I played with some at The Home Depot that had had their blades removed. I didn't realize at the time that the blades had been removed and wondered how the rotating part could plane anything. I thought that maybe this would mean it might work especially well on leather.

Then I walked over to Lowes and nearly sliced my finger off, not expecting anything sharp underneath. The demos at Lowes had the blades installed.

ed

[tonyc1]

Is this very time consuming?

[esantoro]

Is this very time consuming?

Obsessions are never time consuming. They ARE time itself.

The experimentation is taking a bit of time. If I do get a reliable method down I don't think the actual application will be too time consuming. Finishing off with the orbital sander is rather quick.

ed

Edited January 4, 2009 by esantoro