Mike Goetzke
10-12-2006, 8:39 PM
I'm putting my almost new Performax 10-20 drum sander to it's first use on a cutting board project. I'm making the end grain design that was recently published in Wood magazine. The board is approx. 15" long x 11" wide x 1-1/4" thick.
After the glue up I ran the piece through my thickness planer to clean-up the two surfaces. I then ran it through the drum sander starting with 120 grit, then 150, and 220.
This was a good piece to experiment on since it was reasonable size and thick so I had room for error. I did find since I needed to use the two pass method it's best to sand as close to only half of the board as possible. Otherwise a visable ridge it likely.
Now a question for the experts: Even though I used 220 grit for the final passes I still have visable sanding lines in the direction I fed the board. It took more time than I expected to clean them up with my ROS w/220 grit. Is it typical to get these sanding lines or is it because I'm sanding end grain?
(I did pass a piece of oak through the sander and there are no visable sanding lines - this is why I think it's possibly an end grain problem.)
Any help on drum sander technique would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Mike
After the glue up I ran the piece through my thickness planer to clean-up the two surfaces. I then ran it through the drum sander starting with 120 grit, then 150, and 220.
This was a good piece to experiment on since it was reasonable size and thick so I had room for error. I did find since I needed to use the two pass method it's best to sand as close to only half of the board as possible. Otherwise a visable ridge it likely.
Now a question for the experts: Even though I used 220 grit for the final passes I still have visable sanding lines in the direction I fed the board. It took more time than I expected to clean them up with my ROS w/220 grit. Is it typical to get these sanding lines or is it because I'm sanding end grain?
(I did pass a piece of oak through the sander and there are no visable sanding lines - this is why I think it's possibly an end grain problem.)
Any help on drum sander technique would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Mike