Cameron Wood
03-12-2023, 10:20 PM
I work with a lot of used lumber and these tools are good for prep before machining, and for cleaning up rough sawn, live edge, weathered wood and also rusty metal.
The Bauer (Harbor Freight) is sold as "Surface Conditioning tool" eg auto body paint prep. It comes with wheels for that and works well. The brush wheel for wood purchased separate (~$25 Amazon). It has variable speed and I generally use at low rpm which is low stress and not grabby. The lock-on button is key and at low speed the tool will sit upside down so smaller pieces can be cleaned without needing to fasten it down. It seems well made & should last fine- I've had it maybe 9 months & have used it restoring woodworking machines as well as for wood. The cord is shortish, and there is no dust collection so It makes a big dusty mess.
The Makita 9741 has been around for a long time & is quite pricey at $5-600. I balked at spending that but recently paid $100 for a pallet of stuff from guys cleaning up their commercial shop. Bunch of junk but lots of good stuff including this. The seller had set it aside & thought it was maybe broken, but it just needed a wheel brush- also pricey at ~$150. Anyway, it works very well on flat stock and I'm impressed. It made quick work of prepping a good sized deck for refinishing, much better than belt or other sander. I use it a lot to clean material before sending it through the planer, preserving the knives. It has a nice long cord, and a dust collection port, which I haven't used yet. Having proved itself, I just made a box for it.
497586497585497587497588
The Bauer (Harbor Freight) is sold as "Surface Conditioning tool" eg auto body paint prep. It comes with wheels for that and works well. The brush wheel for wood purchased separate (~$25 Amazon). It has variable speed and I generally use at low rpm which is low stress and not grabby. The lock-on button is key and at low speed the tool will sit upside down so smaller pieces can be cleaned without needing to fasten it down. It seems well made & should last fine- I've had it maybe 9 months & have used it restoring woodworking machines as well as for wood. The cord is shortish, and there is no dust collection so It makes a big dusty mess.
The Makita 9741 has been around for a long time & is quite pricey at $5-600. I balked at spending that but recently paid $100 for a pallet of stuff from guys cleaning up their commercial shop. Bunch of junk but lots of good stuff including this. The seller had set it aside & thought it was maybe broken, but it just needed a wheel brush- also pricey at ~$150. Anyway, it works very well on flat stock and I'm impressed. It made quick work of prepping a good sized deck for refinishing, much better than belt or other sander. I use it a lot to clean material before sending it through the planer, preserving the knives. It has a nice long cord, and a dust collection port, which I haven't used yet. Having proved itself, I just made a box for it.
497586497585497587497588