[TheForge] Belt sander recommendations

[Demon Buddha]

Ries Niemi wrote:
> 
> On Feb 23, 2006, at 3:45 PM, Fred Zickrick wrote:
> 
>> Hi yall,
>>         I need a good solid handheld belt sander with some 
>> versatility.  One project will be to resurface a 4" wide anvil.  
>> Others will probably involve wood  and or metal.
>> Any recommendations?
>>
>> Thank you,
>> Fred Zickrick, fredz72 at cableone.net
> 
> Depends on how much you want to spend, and how hard you are going to use 
> it.
> The best ones are rumored to be the no longer made 1960's rockwells that 
> looked like spaceships.

	I have one of these.  best belt sander ever made, IMO, and not by a 
small margin.  They were hideously expensive (something like $1000 in 
the 70s... I may be recalling incorrectly)  I got mine for $15 at a 
garage sale in jamesburg NJ. :)
> 
> I think one of the best available now is the 4x24 milwaukee no. 5936- 
> about $280 to $300. But it will probably last you your lifetime- we have 
> one in the shop that is going on 20 years old, dropped from ladders, 
> used to grind stainless, aluminum, and steel, in a very tough 
> environment, and it keeps on ticking.

	I don't know how Milwaukee designs are these days, but I will say that 
20 years ago they stank.  Fabulously well built, but the designs were so 
poorly balanced that they were consequently difficult to wield with any 
precision and would cause great fatigue.  I've noticed that Milwaukee 
quality is not what it once was.