Hello...I just reached the planing/sanding stage of a night heron kayak, and I've found planing with a block plane (as described in N. Shades kayak book) to be a bit troublesome. I've noticed that the edges of the plane tend to put dents into the softwood on the kayak, and the mix of hard and softwoods to make it difficult to judge the pressure. I've opted to sand it instead, and the new orbital I bought seems to take forever and go through paper very quick. Against my own worries of cutting right through I went ahead and used a circular grinder style sander (initially bought as a buffer) and it seems to work well except it doesn't collect the dust. Is this crazy or does anyone else find the other methods tricky/cumbersome? Any suggestions and comments from someone who has faced this problem would be helpful. I've tried sharpening the plane and adjusting it every which way, but still gives me problems. I imagine the hull will be easier because it has virtually no hardwood. I'm just worried about wrecking the last 4 months work, but also don't want it to take another 3 months either.