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Why a Sander? Portable planers are typically around 13″ wide and stationary planers are commonly around 15″ wide, though bigger machines are available. Drum sanders, like the 22-44, typically exceed the capacity of commonly used planers. So, when you’ve got a large surface to flatten, the sander has the capacity to do the work, the planer doesn’t.Sanding is definitely slower than planing. Even with the most aggressive paper you can find, you probably won’t remove wood as quickly with a drum sander (called abrasive planing), as you will with a planer. Resinous woods, like pine, can wreak havoc on sand paper and this applies to drum sanders, too. Like having a chip in a planer or jointer knife, one bad spot can ruin an otherwise good abrasive. If you’ve got narrow stuff to sand you may be able to avoid the bad spot, but don’t plan on sanding anything that requires the entire width of the head. So, as a rule, you’ve got to avoid sanding resinous and oily woods, or risk eating up belts.The length of the sanding drum is 22″, so that’s the largest piece that will fit under the head in one pass. The phrase, in one pass, is key. That’s where the 44 comes in. If you’ve got a part to sand that’s wider than the 22″ head, you can work it in two passes.