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Thread: Final sanding before assembly?

  1. #16
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    Suffolk, Va.
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    208
    I sand the hard to get to after assembly pieces before assembly like inside of drawers and drawer bottoms. The rest is sanded after assembly. I always finish after final assembly except maybe drawer faces where the boxes are not stained or finished the same.
    Michael Dilday
    Suffolk, Va.

  2. #17
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    McKean, PA
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    Like others I sand and finish hard to reach areas before assembly. It saves time and avoids aggravation.

  3. #18
    Like stated above, I sand everything as far as reasonably far as I can before assembly. I use a wide belt sander, I'm trying to get as much sanding done as possible before even cutting things to size. For instance, lumber for drawer boxes will be sanded to 180 before even being ripped to size


    sanding stuff before cutting to size or other machining dulls your tooling.

    As far as sanding we all sand what we can before assembly. There are gizmo sanders that might allow some decent sanding after the fact say the Fein Multimaster attachments, have them all never tried them as stuff say a drawers is stroke sanded inside, glued then sanded outside on the stroke sander once out of the clamps. Cant put your drawers through a wide belt.

    There is no need to sand the outside of your drawers before assembly as you will be leveling the dovetails after its glued. Or you could do the mickey mouse pre finish and glue your drawers and your dovetails are not flush and never will be. First saw that as the china kitchens started to show up at the home show. Are we really in that much of a hurry?
    Last edited by Warren Lake; 03-28-2020 at 11:56 PM.

  4. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Warren Lake View Post
    sanding stuff before cutting to size or other machining dulls your tooling.
    What's your rationale for this? I know it's not true but I'd like to hear a rationale anyway .

  5. #20
    sanding grit gets in the wood.

    I stroke sanded something when I started that was still to be machined and got told why not to do that. Its nothing new. Guy ran a shop with 425 people and very well respected in the industry. I asked him questions for over 35 years.

  6. #21
    Quote Originally Posted by Warren Lake View Post
    sanding stuff before cutting to size or other machining dulls your tooling.
    This does not make sense. Please explain to me why this is so.

  7. #22
    Quote Originally Posted by Warren Lake View Post
    sanding grit gets in the wood.

    I stroke sanded something when I started that was still to be machined and got told why not to do that. Its nothing new. Guy ran a shop with 425 people and very well respected in the industry. I asked him questions for over 35 years.
    That's incorrect, plain and simple, that's wrong. Maybe our was true a hundred years ago, though I doubt it. I'm pretty sure we'd all notice if abrasive grit was embedded onto our freshly sanded surfaces.

  8. #23
    What I told you is both good info and accurate.

    Your first clue should have been he ran a shop with 425 people. At that level you have all your ducks in a row or you are not running that shop. He was highly respected in industry as one of the top guys in Toronto. They were doing million dollar jobs in the 50's' The shop ran 12 molders a day, they owned the sawmills that supplied their shop with the materials that was only one aspect of that company as they owned retail outlets as well as running the main cabinet shop with the 425 employees.

    When you are at the level of running 12 moulders a day you are in the big leagues and there is no room for not knowing stuff that will affect the bottom line.
    Last edited by Warren Lake; 03-31-2020 at 1:26 PM.

  9. #24
    It's a pretty standard thing to avoid sanding before machining. Certainly there are some occasional practical reasons that
    merit exceptions. To test just run some light cuts on an unsanded board with a sharp pocket knife,then sand and test again.
    Last edited by Mel Fulks; 03-31-2020 at 1:46 PM.

  10. #25
    Quote Originally Posted by Warren Lake View Post
    What I told you is both good info and accurate.

    Your first clue should have been he ran a shop with 425 people. At that level you have all your ducks in a row or you are not running that shop. He was highly respected in industry as one of the top guys in Toronto. They were doing million dollar jobs in the 50's' The shop ran 12 molders a day, they owned the sawmills that supplied their shop with the materials that was only one aspect of that company as they owned retail outlets as well as running the main cabinet shop with the 425 employees.

    When you are at the level of running 12 moulders a day you are in the big leagues and there is no room for not knowing stuff that will affect the bottom line.
    No one is disagreeing that this person wasn't successful. We are questioning whether sanding before cutting the wood dulls your blade. Without any side by side comparison in this, logic has me questioning your statement.
    Looking at this from a hobbyist using a standard kerf blade, the blade would come in contact with this " sanding grit" for such a small time and small volume of grit. I am pretty sure that my blades come in contact with more debris when cutting rough sawn lumber than pre-sanded wood.
    In the end I will do what works for me, as I hope everyone does for themselves.

  11. #26
    Run teak through your planer and its hard on your tooling there is some amount of sand in the wood sucked up by the roots.

    run barn board through your planer and its hard on your tooling, there is some amount of sand blown there in the wind, trashed my knives totally the only time I did that. He told me both those things and was accurate.

    run your wood through your wide belt then go and profile it and its hard on your tooling. There are tiny grit particles (same culprit sand} only time this is serious sand, sharp and it cuts. As some one who has sandblasted with different mediums there is a huge difference between the different sands. Have you ever noticed sand paper get dull, there is stuff breaking off all the time. Your wide belt has pushed some of it into the wood. That very sharp grit that remains acts on the tooling.

    What I told you is accurate.
    Last edited by Warren Lake; 03-31-2020 at 4:03 PM.

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