finishing edges of wood blocks

[L17l6363]

Hello! I am a small rubber stamp manufacturer, and about half of my stamps are wood mounted stamps (versus self-inking). My long-time supplier of wood blocks went out of business recently. My new supplier is great but the edges of the block where the wood has been cut are too rough (the other two edges have a finger groove). It just looks unsightly. Besides hand sanding every single block, is there a better way to smooth the edges just a bit? Preferably en masse? I do not want to ask my new supplier to do it because the pricing is already a bit higher than my old supplier and I'm sure if they sanded the edges it would add additional cost. Thank you in advance!

[Dave H]

maybe a small 1/8" round over bit with a router, or buy a small disk sander 

or buy a hand held orbital disk sander  

[Chet]

Something like a small disc sander should do the job like the one below.  This one is a combination belt and disc but not a bad price for what you need.

Disc and Belt Sander

But you might want to ask your supplier how much it would cost because either way you are going to pay for it, it will be his labor and he probably already has the machine and technique or it will be your time and energy which takes you away from your real work.  

[Mark J]

Just thinking about the problem I don't see any way you're going to batch these, at least not very many at a time.  Do you have some available child labor that you haven't put through college yet? 

And this is going to make a good deal of wood dust that you're going to have to control.  It's considered bad form to breath it as a hobby and with bigger businesses OSHA has issues .  

I'd definitely see what your supplier has to offer.  

Anybody think the end grain roughness could be mitigated with a coating like shellac?

[Coop]

So the two sides that are rough are end grain? 

[JohnG]

I wonder if you could use a large tumbler to ease the edges in batches. With a shape like that, it’s going to be somewhat labor intensive to sand all the edges manually, especially since the other edges have a profile cut into them.

[Chet]

1 hour ago, Mark J said:

Anybody think the end grain roughness could be mitigated with a coating like shellac?

Possibly, but that would most likely take longer than a quick sanding operation.

 

1 hour ago, Mark J said:

And this is going to make a good deal of wood dust that you're going to have to control.  It's considered bad form to breath it as a hobby and with bigger businesses OSHA has issues .  

This is a good point and I don't know where the OP is located, but in my city they are pretty specific when issuing business licenses on whether your business will produce any dust or fumes in the process.

[G Ragatz]

If what you're wanting to do is sand down rough end grain on the blocks, here is what I would do:

• Get a couple of pieces of hardwood 3/4" thick x 2" wide x say, 18" long.
• Glue a piece of the rubber you use for your stamps to one of the 3/4" faces of each piece of hardwood.
• Line up a bunch of same-dimensional wood blocks, on end, on a flat surface.
• Place one piece of hardwood, rubber side in, on either side of the blocks.
• Use a couple of c-clamps to squeeze the blocks between the hardwood pieces.
• Sand with a random orbit sander.
• Flip over and repeat on the other side.  You can rest the blocks on a piece of lumber that will support the blocks, but leave clearance for the clamps when you flip.

You'd have to experiment to see just how many blocks you could hold securely at one time.  If you want to get fancy, you could put a slight arc on the rubber side of the hardwood pieces to create cauls, which might let you process more blocks at one time.  It probably would not be too hard to make a dedicated clamping jig that would cut down on the fiddling around with the cauls.

[Mark J]

And if you were to use threaded rod instead of clamps the you could design it to pass through a drum sander.  

[wtnhighlander]

Most of these suggestions will smooth the face of the end grain cut. If easing or deburring the edges of that cut are what you need, I'd suggest a tool like this:

https://www.amazon.com/4-Sanding-Mop-180-Grit/dp/B00SNMM6A4

[Woodenskye]

This sounds like it would take a lot of your time or money in equipment.  

To me it is pretty simple

1) If you provided a sample, and/or very detailed explanation of what you wanted it to look like, and they didn't follow make them redo at their cost, if they won't don't pay them or find a new supplier.

2) if you didn't provide a sample or weren't specific, then pay them to do.  You may need to redo the deal for future orders.