A hand-held belt sander has a housing, an on-off switch and a power supply conductor supported by the housing, a motor and a transmission received in the housing, a sanding belt, a driving roller driven by the motor and driving the sanding belt, a sliding shoe provided with a base, a deviating roller arranged so that said sanding belt is guidable over the deviating roller and the base of the sliding shoe, a unit for centering the sanding belt, a unit for clamping the sanding belt, the deviating roller and the driving roller have different diameters so that the sanding belt is guided inclinedly, the housing being elongated and the sanding belt being guided on guiding parts which are introduced in a rear region of the elongated housing so that with together with the sanding belt in a front region of the elongated housing a centrally forwardly extending, freely projecting, wedge tip-shaped contour is formed so that the hand-held belt sander as a whole has a lance-like contour.