I’ve made some endgrain cutting boards and I’ve always had problems with my router bits burning maple. Inside the handles on both sides, in the corners, the maple has burned badly and I’m having to sand it down to get it looking nice.
the handles are made by using a cove bit, then a round over.
I finished sanding the first cutting board handles today which took almost 6 hours. It’s a complete waste of time and I am frustrated beyond belief. At this point I’m going to spend more time sanding the inside of these handles than the rest of the project combined.
I am sanding them by hand, starting with 60 grit to get rid of all the burnt maple. I’ve tried using the dremel flap wheel but it’s too big at almost 1.5” in diameter. The handles are 3/4” wide. The dremel abrasive wheel (spongy material) is also too big. The round dremel sanding drums aren’t helpful as the handles are curved at the bottom and the top, so the drum doesn’t follow the contour leaving almost all of it still left by hand. I tried just throwing in one of the little dremel bits to try and just scrape away the black parts which was ok, but left some gouged which took more time to sand.
At this point, I don’t see any other way except to go at it with sandpaper. What I am trying to see if it exists is a bit, that is the shape of a cove bit or a sphere, that is made out of those hard sanding sponges you can get from the store. That way it can be chucked in a drill, is spongy so it’ll follow the contours, and will quickly grind it down. Sadly this doesn’t appear to exist?
Does anyone have any suggestions / ideas?
0802FC9A-62F3-4A88-A6E7-C493940289C9.jpg
7B33E92D-5F9F-4394-8B24-77F291AED713.jpg