sbarton22 Posted March 19, 2011 Report Share Posted March 19, 2011 So, I set up my shiny new bandsaw. I'm making part of the legs of a table. My design has the legs made of strips of various widths to be glued together (each piece about 2" tall and 3' long) I thought I'd try out the new bandsaw's capabilities. I cut one of the strips abut 1/16" thick, no problem. Ok, my question is how do I dress that strip? My planer only cuts about to about 1/4" thickness. I don't know how to clamp it for a hand plane, being so thin. I also don't have a sanding planer (how thin do those get, by the way?) The only thing I can think is to take a sanding block to it, but I'm thinking I will lose the consistency of it's thickness, especially after sanding both sides. Maybe it would have been a better idea to try to do that piece on the table saw? Or am I completely over-thinking it and just clamp the crap out of it and the seam is just too small to even notice? Any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rgraham888 Posted March 19, 2011 Report Share Posted March 19, 2011 you could apply it to your substrate and sand it afterwards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbarton22 Posted March 19, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2011 Well, it is sandwiched between pieces. So that would mean one side gets glued unsanded. Again, maybe I am just being too picky? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Bennett Posted March 19, 2011 Report Share Posted March 19, 2011 So, I set up my shiny new bandsaw. I'm making part of the legs of a table. My design has the legs made of strips of various widths to be glued together (each piece about 2" tall and 3' long) I thought I'd try out the new bandsaw's capabilities. I cut one of the strips abut 1/16" thick, no problem. Ok, my question is how do I dress that strip? My planer only cuts about to about 1/4" thickness. I don't know how to clamp it for a hand plane, being so thin. I also don't have a sanding planer (how thin do those get, by the way?) The only thing I can think is to take a sanding block to it, but I'm thinking I will lose the consistency of it's thickness, especially after sanding both sides. Maybe it would have been a better idea to try to do that piece on the table saw? Or am I completely over-thinking it and just clamp the crap out of it and the seam is just too small to even notice? Any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks! Age old problem. What I usually do is to surface plane the piece, cut the veneer slightly over the thickness I am aiming for. re-plane the stock and cut the next veneer. I do this until I either have enough leaves or the stock becomes too thin to be safe. I will lay the veneers planed side down and once cured I plane, scrape and sand in that order until smooth enough for the finishes. Another way that I have tried a couple of times, and with thicker veneers (3mm or 1/8") make up a sledge to pass through the thicknesser. glue enough medium sandpaper to this rough side up,and then glue a strip all the way around to form a shallow 'box' as close to the size and thickness of your piece of veneer as you can get. Place the veneer in and without starting the machine lower the cutter until it just grips the veneer. Wind back exactly two turns. remove the sledge etc. re-wind down exactly two turns plus no more that 1/32". On my machine it is graduated in 0.5mm steps and is extremely accurate. But, you will need to check carefully to see what you have. Once you've got it set right set the speed of feed to the absolute slowest you can and carefully feed through. The sand paper will do a good job of gripping the veneer if you don't try and take too big a slice at once. One pass should be good enough if you have a good sharp bandsaw blade. If you simply lay the veneer with a rough sawn surface it will almost certainly 'grin' through at some stage. Usually long after you think you've got away with it. all the best Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbarton22 Posted March 20, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2011 Yeah, I see where you are going with that. For this particular project, I actually think a mix between what you are saying, Pete, with what Rob is saying. Yeah, this is great advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon003 Posted March 24, 2011 Report Share Posted March 24, 2011 This is one of the few areas in which a drum sandy really shines. It will maintain a fairly consistent thickness in addition to smoothing out your cut surface. If I may be so bold, why bother to smooth it? How bad is the cut surface anyway? Historic veneering often involved taking a toothing plane to the backside of an otherwise nice veneer to rough it up so that you had a nice surface for the hide glue to adhere to. As long as the non-show-side of your veneer is not terribly uneven, just gently sand down any real high points by hand and head on to the glue! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bois Posted March 25, 2011 Report Share Posted March 25, 2011 This was the #1 reason I finally broke down and bought a drum sander. I found that trying to make veneers without one was a lost cause (in almost every other aspect of woodworking I could always find a reasonable alternative method to almost anything). That being said, the drum sander is now one of my most used and valued tool in the shop. That being said, I always wondered how craftsman of the Federal period made their veneers. I think I read in FWW recently that one of the reasons veneers weren't used more until that period is that the tooling wasn't available yet to cut veneers reliably, so perhaps they even had very specialized tooling or processes back then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbarton22 Posted March 25, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2011 @ Jonathan-- I think the cut is pretty sweet. I mean the piece is less than 1/16" thick, how undulating can it be? You response is one I was kind of hoping to hear. Just sand down the high parts and off we go. @ Bois-- Drum sander was #1 on my list, but now I'm thinking lathe as the next addition. Keep the feedback coming! I'm learning a lot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Posted March 25, 2011 Report Share Posted March 25, 2011 You can make a sled for it to clean up in the planer. Here's an article with Michael Fortune. http://www.finewoodworking.com/FWNPDF/011197068.pdf In this article, he is using one to taper a laminate, but the same principle would apply for a uniform thickness laminate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sac Posted March 25, 2011 Report Share Posted March 25, 2011 You can make a sled for it to clean up in the planer. Here's an article with Michael Fortune. http://www.finewoodw...F/011197068.pdf In this article, he is using one to taper a laminate, but the same principle would apply for a uniform thickness laminate. But on something that is 1/16" thick, I think that you might have a problem with that.. I do believe that it would just tear it apart.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Posted March 25, 2011 Report Share Posted March 25, 2011 But on something that is 1/16" thick, I think that you might have a problem with that.. I do believe that it would just tear it apart.. True Sac. That IS a possibility. In making a veneer, I'd shoot for a thicker rough veneer and get it down to size. But, I just run it through the drum sander. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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