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I'm going to break down and buy a belt sander this week.  I've hand-sanded my last node!  Any preference as to which model and what grit belt for node work???  (Joe West)

Get a belt and disc combo sander. The wider the belt the better. Mine is 3" or so. The 1" ones can go too far into the enamel surrounding the node (or so they tell me!).  (Bob Maulucci)

It's true, you do have to be careful. It's easy enough to control though by just paying a little attention and reducing the abrasive down to 220 or so. Actually the more worn the better. I can see where a wider belt might certainly help.  (Mike Shay)

I have been using a combo belt/disc unit that was very cheap made by Delta.  Never have had a problem and what was said about worn belts is very true.  (Doug Hall)

I have the little Ryobi that sells for about $90 at Home Depot.  Like it.  (Carey Mitchell)

I have the cheap Delta with the 1-inch belt. It is pretty easy to sand too far if you are not careful.

I made a simple wooden "fence" with 2 vertical pieces of wood on either side of the belt.  It clamps to the sander "table" and lets me sand off the node protrusion without going too far.  (Frank Stetzer, Hexrod, Taper Archive, Rodmakers Archive)

Are the fence sections in the same plane as the belt?   (Brian Creek)

Yes, that’s the idea.  You need a scrap piece of cane to test it with to make sure both sides are right.  If you want to go a little deeper you can just flex the strip when you press it against the belt and the fence.  (Frank Stetzer, Hexrod, Taper Archive, Rodmakers Archive)

Grizzly has a very nice oscillating spindle sander for around $120 that really works well, both for strips and culms.  It comes well equipped with about 5 different size spindles and drums.  When you sand the nodes on the culm, splitting is much easier to control.  I love the tool.  (John Long)

I sand the nodes with a "flap disk" that I put on my 4.5" hand held grinder.  The Flap Disk has a slight conical shape the allows me to just "catch" the high parts of the nodes as I rotate the culm.  I can than flame the culm after to get a more uniform color.  (David Van Burgel)

I have been using an even cheaper and just a efficient fix to sanding nodes.  Forget spending big bucks for more gizmos, just go to your local hardware store and buy a spindle sander attachment and put in on the drill press.  It gives great control and will only set ya back about $5.  (I got the idea from Tony Spezio)  (Mike Brown)

I've finally had it with my $89 4x34 belt sander from Harbor Freight. Underpowered on the day it arrived, it finally seems to be dying.  And I'll happily bury it.

Any recommendations on a nice, medium sized stationary belt sander?  I use it for all kinds of jobs in the shop, from removing pith sides of nodes after splitting to cleaning up joints in poor woodworking jobs.

I'd like to stay with the smaller footprint sanders, and keep in less than $250.  Any ideas??  (Harry Boyd)

I bought a 4x36 Ryobi from Home Depot for about $100.  I can sure slow it down if doing some heavy sanding.  I use it mostly while sanding off the pith side of nodes and it does the job.  It has a 1/2 hp motor.  Not sure what your had but this one has served me well and is a lot less than $250.  (Greg Reeves)

I had a Sears for many years and it worked well.  (Ren Monllor)

I, too, have the Ryobi and it is compact and performs well.  The only way I can stall it is if I'm pushing really hard against the full width of the belt.  For bamboo work, it's great.  (Al Baldauski)

Was going to recommend the same one.  Had it for about 5 years and it has served well.  Use it for everything form sharpening lawnmower blades (better than grinder) to various woodworking chores.  Never a problem.  (Carey Mitchell)

I don't know what it's like in your area, but I've found Craig’s List to be a life saver on things like this.

First, you can unload the HF sander you have. Next, you can pick up a quality older sander (back when they used good metal instead of crap) for less than a new one.

I just bought a belt/disc sander for $80.00.  Big Baldor motor, must weigh 250 pounds. WORKS GREAT and when compared to the garbage they sell at the big box stores for a "reasonable" price, or the "arm and a leg" they want for a decent piece of equipment, there's no comparison.  (John Dotson)

I have been using that sander for  quite some time.  The first one I had gave up the ghost and the second one is still gong strong.  The first one died because the drive belt shredded. It was a rubber belt that looked like a caterpillar tractor tread.  Easily replaced.   (Ralph Moon)

I have been using a Ridgid for many years.  It has the option of belt sanding or spindle sanding.  I think the belts are 4 x 24 and there are a set of spindles.  I don't recall the price but i think its in your range.  the warranty is great.  (Jim Sobota)

I bought one from Sears over 15 years ago & it is still going strong.  (Bret Reiter)

I have the same model. I agree its not the greatest. Have you considered buying a new motor for it instead of retiring it to the land fill? A new and better motor would breathe new life into it. My biggest complaint for this model is a lack of a dust collection port. I drag my belt sander outside every time I use it. When it is raining I have to wait.  (Scott Bearden)

I thought of that, but besides the motor I have constantly battled problems with belt tracking.  No matter what I do, the belt wants to slide one way or the other.

I'm through with this machine -- though mine may be different than yours since it has a dust port... not very effective, but it's there.  (Harry Boyd)

Check the platen underneath the belt (the piece of sheet metal under the work area, should have a piece of sheet cork under it), if it has dust buildup, or is worn out and part of the cork missing it will never track right, cleaning it or replacing it should fix that problem. But it will still be underpowered.  (John Channer)

I was just looking for a belt/disc sander myself but I couldn't bring myself to buy any of the ones available in the big box stores.  I've spent most of my life in construction and buying cheap tools never worked for me so I buckled down and bought a "small" Delta model 31-695.  It uses a 1 HP motor to drive a 9" disc and a 6"x48" belt and comes with a stand so I don't have to build one.  Tools-Plus.com have them on sale for $239.00 plus shipping.  Here's the good part; shipping is only $6.50!  If you want a machine instead of a toy, you might want to check this out, and just so you understand, I have no interest in either company and it's just a suggestion.  (Bill Ernst)

I've had great luck with my Delta 4" and also a 1" Stationary belt sanders.  (Doug Losey)

Best one I have found is the Kalamazoo Industries S4S.

No drive belt to break, built like a tank.  I went through a few delta's and others then found this one.  (Larry Tusoni)

When in doubt and you can't find one made by Milwaukee, buy Delta.   (John Channer)

Need some tutelage here. I have only built 2 blond rods and they both turned out to be more of a honey color. I really prefer flamed or ammonia toned rods but need to build blond baitcaster and would like to keep the color as near to straw as possible.

For those of you who build blonds, at what temperature and for how long gives you the best results?  (Will Price)

You could flame the pith side out of the bamboo for your heat treating regimen and you will have about as blonde a rod as you can get.  (Greg Reeves)

There's a tutorial on Todd's tips site here.  (Neil Savage)

Depends on how you heat treat.  in my convection oven with the M-D fixtures, 360 degrees for 30 minutes gives me the blonde color I look for.  This gives me a color between straw and honey.  (Mark Wendt)

I do it with my heat treating regime. I like Honey Colored rods. I heat treat  @ 375 for 12 minutes for Honey color. For straw color, 10 minuets and darker Honey for 15 minutes.

That works for me.  (Tony Spezio)

What happens when you run the belt on your belt sander backwards?I have a 6"x48" belt sander I use to knock down the pith side of nodes.  As you might guess bamboo is tough on sanding belts.  With the 6" wide belt I tend to use the side nearest me most, and it gets worn out more quickly than the side away from me.  What would happen if I reversed the belt and used the opposite side for a few weeks? Will the belt fly apart? (Harry Boyd)

I have run them backwards for much the same reason.  The pith won't put much pressure on the belt's glued joint.  Just inspect it often. (Pete Emmel)

Ahh, the timing. I'll agree with the above mentioned, they can be uni-directioneal these days.

I'd been out of touch on that until just a few weeks ago! Bought some that were unmarked and I questioned it. I asked about it. Seemed the young guy who sold them thought ".... Huh? they've "always" been unmarked!"  Yet another ding that I'm an old boy now!!

A LOT of years back now (maybe it was 1987) when I bought my 3 x 24 Porter Cable for my woodshop I just knew (??) it was going to get a ton of use. So...I bought 4 boxes of belts -6 per box - in the 3 grits  would most use. Turns out it really didn't get THAT much use afterall. I handplaned a lot and have a little 10" Ryobi planer for surfacing rough-cut boards. I used maybe 3 belts total in all these years. The belts were marked with an arrow back then.

Never had an issue in my life with that sander. Went to use them and 4 out of 4 belts just blew apart after maybe 45 secs of light use. I was going nuts. "What the heck am I doing wrong?".  Put a new, unmarked belt on and it worked perfectly.

There's a lesson in there about buying stuff in quantity, keeping it for posterity and hoping they'll last. Really disappointing tho!

I think it was Dave Norling who'd said he'd quit buying green banana's! :-))))

Sorry for the windy reply but it was news to me too until recently.  (Jeremy Gubbins)

I have had the same experience. I loaded up on sanding belts at Sears many years ago (could have been late 80s) when they were having a super sale on sanding belts. Thought I was fixed for sanding belts for a long time. Only used a couple then and didn't use any for years. When I did get to using them they all came apart at the seam with barely any use. I don't know if sanding belts are still subject to glue joint failure like that anymore but I have been reluctant to take advantage of any good sales ever since. (Joe Hudock)

A belt on a sander separating is not as 'scary' as one might think. Once the joint fails, at least in my experience, all the belt does is run off the sander to the 'outside'; away from you. And you are left holding the object against the platen---in itself, a 'funny' feeling!

If the ends of the belting are jamb up against one another, there should be no problem. Of there is a gap between the ends, it is a different matter, as the edge can het caught on the item being sanded, as previously noted. If jamb up, run them both ways. If you run them only oneway, you wear the abrasive down on only one face! :-) (Frank Schlicht)

Depends on the belt.  Some belts nowadays are bidirectional.  Those that are marked with a directional arrow inside should preferably be run in that direction.  But that's mostly because the lapped glue joint will tend to peel apart when you place the workpiece against it when run backwards.  It's probably not so much an issue with bamboo as it might be with metals.Give it a try :>) (Al Baldauski)

You may want to try using one of the gum rubber belt cleaners on the belt before reversing. Woodcraft, Rockler and other mail order sites sell them and they last along time and work really well for un clogging the belt or disk. (Greg McGowan)

I use one of those regularly.  The sanding surface has become worn more on the near side than the far.  These belts aren't cheap.  I hate to change belts more often than necessary.  (Harry Boyd)

Sounds like you need arm extenders.  (Scott Grady)

The direction the belt travels had to do with the way the edges overlapped for gluing. As long as you are not applying a lot of pressure and heat along the top or doing something that would catch the edge it should be fine. I have one of these and never thought of turning i around. I have a feeling that the other direction will not do much in terms of providing a new fresh cutting edge. Let us know what happens.Worth a try. All that will happen is that it will rip or come apart and stop the belt.This is certainly less adventurous than many of Bob's tests. (Gordon Koppin)

There is a joining overlap in sanding belts. In one direction you only fall off that ledge in the other you would catch it. How sever that might be with a small piece of bamboo is unknown. For safety if you do try flipping wear a face shield so if the belt comes apart your smiley is protected. (Wayne Cattanach)

I have reversed belts many times on both my portable and benchtop sanders with never a problem on hardwoods.  I also use the benchtop for sharpening lawnmower blades.  The only problem was when the blade caught the edge of the belt and cut into it. (Carey Mitchell)

What choices have you got?  On the one hand you seem to have a belt that needs replacing versus reversing it and having a belt that may need replacing if it breaks.  Worst case both scenarios is that you will need to replace your belt. (Tim Wilhelm)

This sander is a beast...  It's the big one that Grizzly sells, in case anyone is wondering.  A few months ago, just as I turned if off, the sanding belt grabbed the sleeve of my denim shirt and scared me worse than it hurt me.  Reminded me never, ever wear long sleeves in the shop, even for a moment. So the worst case scenario is far worse than a broken belt...  that thing can hurt you badly in the blink of an eye!  And it does NOT differentiate between sanding bamboo and removing fingertips.  Ask me how I know that. (Harry Boyd)

Where do you get this graphite sheet to put on the metal plate. I would beinterested in trying it. (Lew Boyko)

I got mine from the machine supplier when I purchased it. Porter Cable, makes a piece for their 4x24 belt sander. I would think most machinery suppliers would have it. One piece will last for years, unless you were to gouge it somehow. (Greg Shockley)

I didn’t know that belts a had direction, I have been using one for over 30 years... no one tole me!   How do you tell if you got year belt on the wrong way?  i ALWAYS PUT MINE ROUGH SIDE OUT is that the right way? (Joe Freeman)

That is a great one Joe. If you ever run in to Ed Berg, you might want to ask him how many sides a graphite rod has. He got me with that one a number of years ago, we may have been driving between Barstow and Albuquerque, I cannot recall, but he had me going for a good 1/2 hour, at least, before he clued me in. (Greg Shockley)

Do you have a metal platen on your sander, or is it covered with a graphite sheet?I have a graphite sheet covering the platen and it adds greatly to the life of the belt. I also change the grit of the belts depending on how much material I am taking off. The belt life is quite long until I start using it to sharpen items. Not to accuse anybody, but I often see people trying to take off material too fast with too fine a grit. The one thing that does any machine cutting tooling in is heat, whether a saw blade, drill bit, or sandpaper. If the cane is getting warm use a rougher belt, and work to finer.  (Greg Shockley)

For what it's worth, I have noticed that the abrasive on my Baginski Beveler wheels becomes ineffective, not because it's worn out, but because it has loaded up bamboo resin and cuttings. The cure is to use some of this blade and bit cleaner I got from Woodcraft.  The abrasive lasts probably five times as long with periodic cleaning with this stuff. Don't know how it would be with a belt, but might be worth a try. (Mike McGuire)

Metal platen covered with graphite sheet.  What you say makes perfect sense though.  I'm using 100g and 120g belts. (Harry Boyd)

I might suggest you start with 80 or even 60. But, as you say, keep your finger out of it, it is an equal opportunity abrasive. Obviously for finer work go to 100 or 120. I know bamboo strips are not very wide or thick, but 100 or 120 would become filled, or dull quite quickly. Even sanding the nodes with 120, the belt would only last so long, before it became filled and started polishing rather then cutting. Once you see the bamboo or the belt start to get glossy you know it is way too hot. But it sure looks nice. (Greg Shockley)

Prob’ly not, Harry, but I wouldn’t be shocked to learn that your splines were getting thicker because of the pith that was being reapplied to the spline.  Runnin’ in reverse, an’ all . . . Jes’ sayin’ . . . (Steve Yasgur)