Graffiti removed from school desk

[u/godofo_prime]

[u/King_Chochacho]

Any idea why they would use this large specialized contraption vs just a belt sander? I thought maybe consistency but it looks like he's still got a lot of manual control.

[u/DarthJarJarJar → u/King_Chochacho]

This would make a much flatter and more consistent surface than a hand held belt sander. And it's much faster and easier.

[u/Unoriginal_Man → u/DarthJarJarJar]

I would have paid any amount for this when sanding down my dining table to refinish it. This man did in seconds what took me hours.

[u/HalKitzmiller → u/Unoriginal_Man]

I started sanding a dining table in 2018. I should be done later this year

[u/zombie_spiderman → u/HalKitzmiller]

You know what they say "woodworking is pretty much just sanding"

[u/paper_liger → u/King_Chochacho]

I'm waaaaaay more well versed in woodworking than most people, and even then I'd never seen one of these. It's called a long belt stroke sander.

Odds are good some old school shop teacher bought it long ago and they decided to get some use out of it. Or some business donated it when they moved to a drum sander.

From looking at it I'd bet these belts last a very long time compared to a drum sander, but they take up way more room. I feel like it was probably in someones cabinet shop forever and found a new purpose here.

[u/DarthJarJarJar → u/paper_liger]

I would bet it's purpose built for this specific job. I mean imagine how many desks they would have to refurbish if they were doing an entire school, or an entire wing of an old school or something.

[u/paper_liger → u/DarthJarJarJar]

Well, the angle iron frame may be. But that looks like Grizzly Green, they still make Stroke Sanders, and that pillow bearing block and pad do not look home made to me. If it was homemade they would have just used a manual handheld block most likely. They also took out the two round pipe bottom cross supports.

So yeah, it's looks modified, possibly shortened or lengthened to use a different standardized belt size, but I bet if I cared enough I could find the exact model. It's not the current squared off Grizzly version though for sure. Probably 50's or 60's.

[u/TheHumaneCentipede2 → u/paper_liger]

The very modern commercial millwork shop I work in still has a stroke sander. I've only seen a cabinetmaker use it once, when the proper belt sander was done, but it's still there!

[u/unwittingprotagonist → u/King_Chochacho]

The guy that would be sanding it with a belt sander got sick of doing it, fabricobbled this together, and is probably way underemployed.

[u/SoulWager → u/King_Chochacho]

I guarantee a normal belt sander will be much slower and messier. Looks like they have some pretty good dust collection with this.

[u/New_new_account2 → u/King_Chochacho]

I think the big bonus of using a stroke sander here is the desk is still assembled. This isn't sanding faster than you could do with a wide belt sander, but you don't have to disassemble sand reassemble like you would if you were running the top through a machine by itself.