We recently got some new (old) equipment in the Building Construction Technology workshop at Tennessee College of Applied Technology, and suddenly I am reminded of the children’s book If You Give a Mouse Cookie.

If you give a mouse a cookie, he’s going to ask you for a glass of milk. Today, someone showed me how to use the sanding table. Now, I want one of my own.

I was making a Christmas-tree-shaped menorah, which will be my marquee product when I ultimately corner the market on decor for the improvised interfaith celebration “Hanamas.” Or “Christmakkah.” Take your pick. I lean toward Hanamas. In any case, I started by gluing and screwing a bunch of scrap lumber together to make a tree-shaped candelabrum, but I couldn’t quite get a seamless finish with my usual orbital palm sander.

Then someone showed me how to use the new (old) sanding table. Imagine a table-sized machine that is a mash-up of pasta maker, old-fashioned laundry mangle, and toasting conveyor belt like you see at sandwich stores. I placed the uneven Hanamas tree flat on the conveyor belt, cranked the sanding drum (like a rolling pin covered in sandpaper) to the height of the workpiece, then watched it travel under the drum and come out the other side all polished and smooth.

Forget cookies. I want a sanding table. I guess I’ll add it to my Hanamas wishlist. You know, the list for Sander Claus.