The Festool sander was very easy to control. The included base required nine-hole paper but the standard eight-hole base is available so Engel tested both. To measure the sander’s aggressiveness, Engel sanded a poplar board for five minutes and measured how much wood was removed. The Festool sander removed six grams of stock over the five minutes and 11 grams with a vacuum attached.

In addition, Engel sanded clear Plexiglass to compare the sanders’ scratch patterns. The Festool sander had a good scratch pattern. Engel found that the machines with the most uniform scratch pattern tended to be the most aggressive. With vacuum attached, the sander collects 100% of external dust.

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