When we started restoring our 100-year old house, I knew we were going to need a good hand sander for more detailed work. Thankfully, our Home Depot had this Black & Decker Detail Sander with Dust Collection for $40. We also bought an additional Dremel tool for even finer detailing. The Black & Decker, however, proved to be a real workhorse.

I'd only ever had good experiences with Black & Decker products, so I wasn't surprised to find that this sander took everything we could throw at it. We started out removing paint from the trim in our house manually, but then I just tried it with the sander and it was plowing though it with ease. We were still using the torch for most of the paint removal, but we didn't have to worry about every last bit before running the sander over it once we figured out the sander could handle it. The sander, while small, couldn't get into every nook and cranny but that's what we bought the detailing Dremel tool for.

The dust collector on the back of the sander works like a charm. While we were working we didn't have to worry about breathing in too much wood dust and there wasn't a lot to sweep up afterwards either. This was nice because while restoring a house you have enough to worry about.

I'd recommend this Black & Decker hand sander to anyone doing similar work. It's great for detailed work like restoring wood trim around doors and windows in old houses and the dust collector keeps the mess to a minimum. It only costs $40, so it's a nice additional tool to have at your disposal even after you're done with restoring your house. I give it 5 out of 5 stars for it's reliability and utility.