Cutting and sanding are the two most essential steps in wood board refinishing and DIY woodworking. Many people struggle with which tools to use for cleaner wood cuts and more efficient sanding. In this practical test, we compare chainsaws, hand saws, different attachments for angle grinders, as well as sanding results between sanders and angle grinders, to help you find the most practical tool combination.
First, let’s look at the wood cutting tests. We tried four methods, with very distinct results.
1. Chainsaw cutting: Fast but inaccurate, leaving extremely rough burrs. Chainsaws are only suitable for gardening pruning and not for precise woodworking tasks.
2.Hand saw: Manual, cordless, and safer, but extremely slow, labor-intensive, and prone to uneven cuts. It is only suitable for occasional small-scale cutting.
3.Angle grinder with standard abrasive disc: Highly discouraged. Abrasive discs are not designed for wood cutting — they cut slowly, tend to jam, leave charred and ragged cuts, and pose serious safety risks.
4.Angle grinder with a dedicated wood cutting blade: Once equipped with a proper blade, cutting speed improves dramatically, cutting through boards in seconds with unmatched efficiency. The cut is also clean with minimal burrs, making it an excellent choice balancing speed and precision.
Next, we compare wood sanding performance. We marked three sections on the same wooden board and tested a sheet sander, an angle grinder with a sanding wheel, and an angle grinder with a wood rasp disc respectively.
The sheet sander works the slowest but runs smoothly, producing the flattest surface. However, it struggles with thick old paint and deep unevenness, so its overall efficiency is average. It works best for final fine polishing.
The angle grinder with a sanding wheel is significantly faster than the sander, with strong cutting force and higher efficiency. Its finish is smoother than the rasp disc but cannot match the fine texture of the sander.
The wood rasp disc on an angle grinder has the strongest cutting power and fastest material removal rate, quickly eliminating burrs, uneven areas, and old surface layers. However, it leaves deep scratch marks and a rough surface, only suitable for rough grinding and leveling in the early stage.
For heavily uneven, worn wooden boards, using only a sander is nearly ineffective and extremely inefficient. The best practical method is a combination approach: first use an angle grinder with a wood rasp disc to quickly level the surface and remove rough, raised layers, saving a great amount of time; then finish with a sheet sander for fine polishing. This combines the speed of the angle grinder and the smooth finish of the sander, achieving both efficiency and quality.
In conclusion, sanders and angle grinders are not competitors but complementary partners.
For cutting wood, an angle grinder with a dedicated blade delivers fast, clean cuts.
For sanding, use a sander for fine finishing. For refinishing old wood, use an angle grinder to quickly prep the surface, then follow with a sander for final smoothing.
This combination allows fast material processing while achieving a smooth, high-quality surface, making it the most practical setup for wood board refinishing.