This Electric Hand-Sander Makes Large DIY Projects More Tolerable

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No one ever tells you how much of your adult life will be spent sanding things down. Drywall? Sanding. Every piece of wood you cut and install in a DIY project? Sanding. Want to repair or refinish your floors, or furniture? Yup, probably sanding. And there’s nothing worse than laboring over a large sanding project—you feel it in your arms and back for days, and your hand starts to cramp holding that buzzing hand sander for long periods of time. That is, until I picked up this palm sander from Bosch, which is so comfortably designed, I haven’t hated sanding since—and my Tylenol consumption has plummeted. If you use a hand sander frequently, this will definitely be an upgrade for you.

BOSCH GSS20-40 Orbital Finishing Sander 1/4-Sheet, 2 Amp, 12000 OPM with Dust Collector

$79.00 at Amazon

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$79.00 at Amazon

The wood stairs in my old house have a lot of character, which is a polite way of saying they are beat up. I’m not in the market to replace both staircases, though, so I try to keep them in good shape. I recently decided to sand them down and repaint them, and wasn’t looking forward to the process. I needed a new hand sander, so after a bit of research that praised the GSS20-40’s comfort, I picked one up for the job. It was a great experience.

The first reason I love this hand sander is that it’s relatively quiet and doesn’t buzz as much as others—there’s a lot less vibration. That vibration can be very fatiguing over long periods of use, so cutting it down makes a huge difference both in how comfortable the tool is to use generally and how long you can tolerate it. And the longer you can tolerate using the tool, the more you can accomplish.

The GSS20-40 also has a very comfortable two-handed grip. You can use it one-handed, but I always wind up using two hands because I feel more in control of the tool. Normally, this is pretty awkward, because most hand sanders have pommels that are just a bit too small for two-handed operation, but with this model it works well.

The sander is well-designed in general. The speed dial is on the back, and it’s easy to adjust depending on the material and results you’re getting. It’s a sheet sander, with sandpaper clamping into place over the pad. I’ve had trouble with shifting paper in previous sanders, but the Bosch held the sheets in place reliably.

This is a corded tool—one of the few corded tools I still use, actually. I hate having to deal with extension cords like it’s 1995, but I think the comfort and performance make it well worth the extra trouble. If you’re going to be doing a lot of sanding at some point, definitely check this one out—your arms and back will thank you.

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