Need your opinion

[Craig D Peltier]

Good morning, I have a table top im working on. Its 80 inches long, where two boards meet its raised about 3/32" of an inch for about 16 inches. Its 1.5 inch white oak. Whats the best way of getting this flat.Its all glued up.
I was thinking of buying a pad sander.One of those rectangualr types.

I have a 3"x21" porter cable belt sander im afraid I might groove with that, or maybe i should just use the weight of it an go very lite.
I also have a vibrating sander shaped like a iron.

Any suggestions I'd appreciate.

Thanks

Ill post pics in a few days when its done.

[Mark Engel]

You could probably get it done pretty quickly with a cabinet scraper.

The belt sander will bring it down real quick. To avoid grooving, just keep the sander moving and don't press it into the wood, just let the sanders own weight do the work.

[Jerry Olexa]

I'd go @ it very gently with your PC belt sander. Then finish off with a ROS or a sharp handplane to blend all together..

[Paul Douglass]

Craig, got to ask, are you related to the Peltier's that live on the East side of the mountain? Jerry Peltier is mayor of West Richland. I worked for the same companies as is wife for years, She is a great lady. Just curious.

[Paul Douglass]

Oh, ya, I heard of flattening a table to with a router. You have to build a jig the has rails you clamp to the sides of the table, Than there a part that ride on the rails, you have a cross member that the router sits on a you run the router back and forth accross the table while sliding the jig on the rails. The rails keep it level and the same heigh all the way. Must be easier than me explaining it. Where the heck did I see that?

[Larry Fox]

I agree with Mark - that should be quick work with a scraper. You could also plane it very gently and scrape with a card scraper after.

[Craig D Peltier]

Nope.My family is from New Brunswick , Can. Im an eastcoaster. There arent alot of Peltiers around.One famous one Leonard.
Craig, got to ask, are you related to the Peltier's that live on the East side of the mountain? Jerry Peltier is mayor of West Richland. I worked for the same companies as is wife for years, She is a great lady. Just curious.

[Mike Ross]

Hi Craig,

Practice belt sanding before tackling your table top. I have spent hours fixing Two seconds of bad belt sander work.

I would be tempted to find a small shop that can run it through their widebelt sander. If you want to bring it Longview I will do it for a beer. :D

Other than that the scraper makes the most sense. Plus its cheap and fun for the first 30 minutes.

Mike Ross

[Craig D Peltier]

Yikes longview is far, had to see where it was, thanks for offer.
Anyways I did pass it through a 24inch sander and then had the glue up the 24 an 12 to make 36 wide.I will call that same shop tommorrow.
I have never used a cabinet scraper and I dont think a clients 36x80 table top is where I want to practice.:D Plus the top cost me several hundred in wood.
I have a nice 9 inch jackplane brand new.I think i might try two sanders I have but be very gentle with belt sander.

Thanks for the help