: I guess I should have specified. POWER tools. I'm happy with my
: hand planes. I'm talking about a corded powered hand plane vs a
: hand held belt sander. I've never used either, so I'm curious
: what is more useful for home owner and occasional boat builder.
: thanks,
: scott

I'd have to take a firm stand here and say, it depends!

I have both; overall I use my sander far more than the planer. However, when I'm building one of my plywood canoes the sander gets put away and the power planer gets a workout; I use it for planing bevels on teh sheer and bottom planks for gluing the bilge planks, for shaping the stems after the hull is built ready for the external stem, and for leveling off laminated gunnels. All these operations require a clean, flat surface to be cut on a curve, where the hand-held planer excels. But for all other work the planer rarely leaves its shelf. BTW, I tend to replace the baseplate with a plywood one, customized for the job in hand.

Both tools are vicious animals unless carefully controlled, and can do a lot of damage to a boat or other woodwork, but I don't find them dangerous to me. By far the most dangerous power tool I have is a wee little hand-held router with a gaping chip window that practically begs me to put my fingertip in. It looks so innocent ...