If you’re going to cut wood, you’re going to have to sand wood. Save some money and some elbow grease with a tool that removes wood quickly and gets into tight spaces.
By Bob Duncan
I can’t think of a woodworking project that wouldn’t benefit from sandpaper and elbow grease. Of course, there are plenty of power sanders to make the work faster and easier, but those can be expensive, and they might not smooth all of the nooks and crannies. Instead, turn to a traditional woodworking tool: the palm sander. Specifically, Black & Decker’s Mouse® Detail Sander.
The Mouse uses the vibrating action of a standard pad sander, which smooths wood quickly without introducing any cross-grain scratches, like you get with an orbital sander. That’s perfect for smoothing a blank before you apply the pattern or knocking the fuzzies off when you’re done cutting—and it’s a lot faster than sanding by hand.
But where a traditional pad sander is square or rectangular, the Mouse has a rounded triangular pad with an extended tip. The shape allows you to fit the tool into tight areas, such as square corners or inside bowl and box rings. You can replace the shorter tip with a 3″ (7.6cm)-long pointed finger that fits into even smaller areas. In addition to being faster than sanding by hand, using the Mouse avoids the damage that can be caused by using a sanding drum in rotary tool.
The tool has several other useful features. It comes with a collection bag that catches quite a bit of the sanding dust if you use perforated sandpaper. And, the 20-amp lithium ion battery not only holds a charge well, but it is interchangeable with Black & Decker’s other 20-amp batteries. When one battery runs out, you can swap it out and get right back to sanding. Black & Decker sells pre-cut, perforated, hook-and-loop-backed sandpaper in a variety of grits. If you took the time to make a template, you could cut your own sandpaper.
The MSRP for the Mouse is $59.99. Visit www.Black&Decker.com to find a retailer.
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