I’m not really clear on just when to use the various speeds on my variable speed sander.
Michael Dresdner: I’m with you on this one. When a sander slows down it is more likely to leave pig tails, those little squiggly scratches indicating that either your sander is running too slowly or you are moving it across the wood too quickly. While the theory is that slowing the sander gives you more control and makes for less aggressive wood removal, in practice it makes a lot more sense to leave the speed up and use finer paper. To be perfectly honest, the only time I have run my sanders below top speed is when I was making “what not to do” samples to be photographed for an article on sanding errors.
Rob Johnstone: Sanding speed is really more of a metaphor than an actuality. I mean, really, when has sanding ever gone fast enough for you?
Carol Reed: I found the feature to be more useful when sanding non-wood products, like aluminum.
