u/Empty-Ad-2656

I have a large Sapele top that has some tear out in some places. There is also dried glue that I missed. Right now i have the festool 3mm 5" stroke sander that, even at 80 grit, seems to remove very little material. Sapele is a harder wood than im used to deal with. By contrast, the African mahogany sands like butter. A Card scraper works better but hurts my hands after awhile, and i still suck at sharpening them.

Options

1. Get a card scraper holder, keep practicing scraping
2. Upgrade to a rotex sander and really get after it. Risk introducing swirls / f-ing up the project. Not sure how easy it is to control
3. Get a 5mm stroke sander which is more aggressive than my current 3mm but not as much as the rotex. e.g. Festool ETS EC 150/5 EQ-Plus which also gives me an extra inch of sanding diameter.