GRIZZLY BRUSH SANDER
The next tool to look at is one that may be unfamiliar to many — it was my first time using one when I gave this one a go. What you see on this page is Grizzly’s G0400 Brush Sander. Simply put, this tool functions similarly to a thickness sander, except that it utilizes abrasive brushes to do the work.
BRUSH-BASED SANDING.
As you can see in photo 1, the brush this sander utilizes has compound nylon abrasive bristles. The ends have the abrasive exposed to do the sanding, and as they wear away fresh abrasive is exposed to maintain its usefulness. While the sanding this does is much less aggressive than something like a thickness planer, the bristles conform to a variety of shapes, making them excellent at sanding down strips of molding or cabinet doors.
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| The brush sander utilizes a spindle-mounted brush. Each bristle ends with a small, fine abrasive pad that sands and polishes what passes through. |
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| After releasing the tension lever and removing the acorn nuts from the pillow blocks, the spindle can be removed as a whole for easy changes. |
The brush heads come in a variety of grits, and even a few different styles. The one you see here is what the product ships with, though Grizzly also offers a less aggressive flap-wheel style spindle, as well as a more aggressive steel-wire brush spindle.
TO BUY OR NOT TO BUY?
What you’ll get out of this brush sander is largely dependant on the work you do. It’s not a tool that I’d recommend to the average woodworker. The G0400 excels at sanding, buffing and polishing irregular shapes en masse, and for a woodworker who makes a single project at a time, this will be overkill.
By contrast, anyone who does large-scale work or frequent commissions could easily see the benefits. Sanding down strips of custom molding, cabinet doors, or CNC-carved designs are all perfect tasks for this brush sander, and if you need to sand a number of these at once then this tool will certainly pay dividends.
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| Variable speeds for both the spindle and conveyer let you dial in the perfect settings for your material. |
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| The adaptive nature of the abrasive brush is great for sanding irregular shapes, such as molding, cabinet doors, or CNC carvings. |
