# leveling a broad glueup



## smitty10101 (Oct 15, 2004)

Subject is a 27" wide by 24" long glue up "doughboard".

https://www.routerforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=388999&thumb=1

https://www.routerforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=389001&thumb=1

Glue up was done individually into 2 sub assemblies, odd # together and then even #.
https://www.routerforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=389003&thumb=1
https://www.routerforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=389005&thumb=1

The problem: Sticks #1 & #3 (cherry) when glued to board #0 were "off" by about 1/64 to 1/32". Being higher,thicker, than board #0 (soft maple). Boards #3 &4 are black limba. The rest of the boards are purple heart, cherry, walnut & zebrawood.

Before anyone goes crazy---I do as I'm told! She wanted those species. Period.



So---how you you deal with the unevenness?
I wound up sanding the heck out of the intersection of the woods.This resulted in the black limba having a detectable depression. Not by sight but by feel.
But on reflection I think I could have:
a) used a hand plane
b) probably used a cabinet scraper
c) sanded the crap out of it.

So again how do you deal with it??

thks
smitty


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

spline the joints for flush control...
smoothing plane..
scraper...
sanding...
finishing


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## JOAT (Apr 9, 2010)

Damn computer, just deleted what I had typed. 

Not sure how long it has been since I did anything like this. What I did was put some water down on a guaranteed flat surface (unknown table top), sandpaper that was held in place by the water, then pushed the piece across the sandpaper. Worked like a . This is what "I" did, not telling you to do it that way. But if do, experiment first.


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## smitty10101 (Oct 15, 2004)

BTW I forgot to mention I used a ROS.
Probably why it left a depression.

I don't currently have access to a large dedicated sanding machine.

Hopefully sometime soon--when lock down is over.

smitty


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

smitty10101 said:


> BTW I forgot to mention I used a ROS.
> Probably why it left a depression.
> 
> smitty


ran the ROS tipped up didn't ya???


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## smitty10101 (Oct 15, 2004)

JOAT said:


> sandpaper that was held in place by the water, then pushed the piece across the sandpaper.



Sorta out of the question. I spent considerable amount of time using the ROS.
Doing it by hand and trying to get the board to even move over the sandpaper.

thks tho

smitty


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Probably not much help at this point, but I prefer my belt sander for large areas, and more even sanding. My ROS I save for the 120 and 220 grits.
For shaping the wood I use my angle grinder with 36 grit.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Build a router sled or put a router on skis and flatten with one of those. Shim to keep it relatively flat or if needed to make it stable.


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## smitty10101 (Oct 15, 2004)

DaninVan said:


> but I prefer my belt sander for large areas, and more even sanding. My ROS I save for the 120 and 220 grits.
> /QUOTE]
> 
> 
> ...


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## smitty10101 (Oct 15, 2004)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> Build a router sled or put a router on skis and flatten with one of those.


True--but--
where do you store something like something that size?
Or do you build one, knock it down, & build a new one when the need arises?


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## Nickp (Dec 4, 2012)

It sounds like at this point you would have to bring down the rest of the boards..."no matter how many times I cut it, it's still too short"

A plane or belt sander sounds like the best thing since you don't have a planer.

If you can get your hands on an electric hand planer that might speed things up depending on how deep the depression is. (not my first choice)


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## smitty10101 (Oct 15, 2004)

Stick486 said:


> ran the ROS tipped up didn't ya???


Nope! flat on the board but probably just over sanded the damn thing trying to get the cherry down.

FFR (for future reference), if someone stumbles onto this thread,

If you're doing heavy or a lot of sanding be cognizant of the density of the adjoining boards. In this case all the boards were hardwood but some were softer (less dense) than others resulting in excess removal of material.

Lesson learned.


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## smitty10101 (Oct 15, 2004)

Nickp said:


> A plane or belt sander sounds like the best thing since you don't have a planer.
> 
> If you can get your hands on an electric hand planer that might speed things up depending on how deep the depression is. (not my first choice)


Have all 3, belt sander, plane & electric hand planer.

Have only managed to DESTROY anything that I've tried to use the electric hand planer on. Ripped the snot out of the board ( even on a light setting) and could never get the edge square to the sides. Did manage to put chips all over everything.

The glue up was too big to fit into the planer after the glue up. Planer only will take 12 1/2" width & the glue up was 27" wide. Guess I could have run it through twice? :laugh2::lol:

thks

smitty


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## Nickp (Dec 4, 2012)

LOL...every problem has a solution, Smitty...

Agreed on the electric planer...like I said, not my first choice. Then you have to deal with the ridges and right back where you started.

If you have a sharp smoothing plane that would be my first choice, belt sander second (with the grain).

How deep is the depression...? And what are you planning for a finish...? If it's not a glossy finish or not too deep, sometimes "doing nothing" is an option...it might not be visible...


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

I have used the belt sander at an angle to the joint to flatten then parrellel to the grain to remove the sanding marks. At this stage 100g might work better than 8og to flatten the board and then go to 120 to take out any sander marks.
HErb


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

smitty10101 said:


> Nope! flat on the board but probably just over sanded the damn thing trying to get the cherry down.
> 
> FFR (for future reference), if someone stumbles onto this thread,
> 
> ...


I've had the same thing happen trying to sand down Rock Hard wood filler on pine. The Rock Hard is harder than the pine is so it wants to leave a hump. You get a little better results by using a piece of wood with sandpaper wrapped around it. The pads on most sanders are soft enough to deform a bit over humps so they just keep sanding the softer wood lower.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

What Herb said. Try the bright red belts, Diablo, or 3M, I can't remember, but man what an improvement in sanding belts for wood!
You also need a neoprene sanding belt cleaner. They do an amazing job of restoring the cutting ability of the belt when it gets a bit clogged with dust and resins.
https://www.diablotools.com/products/DCB321120S02G


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## JFPNCM (Dec 13, 2009)

For what it's worth, when I glue up pieces like that is place them on a piece of mdf covered with clear packing tape and then cross the piece with similar pieces to keep everything flat as shown below. Unfortunately, this is not a guaranteed approach unless each piece is of equal thickness. I then use a router sled to smooth the final piece.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

Use stick's sequence. Use the longest hand plane you can find, at minimum a #4, hand plane to produce a new, flat surface on the existing board. It will be a little thinner, but juices won't pool and you won't notice it every time the thing gets used. I am very fond of the scraper. Gives such a clean surface, better than lots of sanding. 

Use a sanding block, a nice flat one, that's fairly large for the sanding. Do it by hand. The plane will knock the height down. I don't use more than 220 grit and get great results. I've dumped most of my paper sandpaper and gone to 3Ms flexible sanding medium. Expensive but outlasts paper 5-6 to one. Very aggressive grit, even in the finer grits, so you don't have to sand forever to get a good finish. Flex the medium and the sawdust falls out, voila, sands like new.

With all those species of wood, you might find sandpaper will dig deeper in softer woods than really hard woods, so planing and scraping would be my main tools. Sanding would be very light only.

Look forward to seeing the results. Sounds colorful. Hope there's no poisonus varieties in there.


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

DaninVan said:


> What Herb said. Try the bright red belts, Diablo, or 3M, I can't remember, but man what an improvement in sanding belts for wood!
> You also need a neoprene sanding belt cleaner. They do an amazing job of restoring the cutting ability of the belt when it gets a bit clogged with dust and resins.
> https://www.diablotools.com/products/DCB321120S02G


Thanks,Dan, I have not used a belt sander for several years and not seen those belts. Since I got the drum sander I have not had occasion to use the portable.
Herb


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

smitty10101 said:


> BTW I forgot to mention I used a ROS.
> Probably why it left a depression.
> 
> I don't currently have access to a large dedicated sanding machine.
> ...


hard block hand sanding...


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> Build a router sled or put a router on skis and flatten with one of those. Shim to keep it relatively flat or if needed to make it stable.


kinda overkill for a 64th'' of offset isn't it...


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

smitty10101 said:


> DaninVan said:
> 
> 
> > but I prefer my belt sander for large areas, and more even sanding. My ROS I save for the 120 and 220 grits.
> ...


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## smitty10101 (Oct 15, 2004)

DesertRatTom said:


> Look forward to seeing the results. Sounds colorful. Hope there's no poisonus varieties in there.


SWMBO picked the species. .


If there is any maybe she's trying to tell me something?? :surprise:


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## smitty10101 (Oct 15, 2004)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> You get a little better results by using a piece of wood with sandpaper wrapped around it.


Are you implying that I do that by HAND? Without electricity??

Heresy!!!! 

Where's Tim The Tool Man when I need him?? More power!!! :laugh2:


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

smitty10101 said:


> Are you implying that I *do that by HAND*? Without electricity??
> 
> Heresy!!!!
> 
> Where's Tim The Tool Man when I need him?? More power!!! :laugh2:


if you had done it by hand you'd bee done three times over by now...


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## Ed3443 (Jul 7, 2013)

smitty10101 said:


> Are you implying that I do that by HAND? Without electricity??
> 
> Heresy!!!!
> 
> Where's Tim The Tool Man when I need him?? More power!!! :laugh2:


Always need MORE power!!!!


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

smitty10101 said:


> Are you implying that I do that by HAND? Without electricity??
> 
> Heresy!!!!
> 
> Where's Tim The Tool Man when I need him?? More power!!! :laugh2:


As the saying goes "It's a crappy job but someone has to do it". The router sled was if it needs to be dead flat, then it's warranted. If it only needs to look flat then I would go with a belt sander crossways too. I see a lot of people get hung up on wanting perfection when perfection isn't needed. Take the easy way out when you can.


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## thomas1389 (Jan 4, 2012)

smitty10101 said:


> Have all 3, belt sander, plane & electric hand planer.
> 
> Have only managed to DESTROY anything that I've tried to use the electric hand planer on. Ripped the snot out of the board ( even on a light setting) and could never get the edge square to the sides. Did manage to put chips all over everything.
> 
> ...


I'm glad to see I'm not the only one that "knows" how to use an electric hand planer. Wanna join me on the pedestal?


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## gmercer_48083 (Jul 18, 2012)

Use one of these.https://taytools.com/products/taytools-80-cabinet-scraper-plane


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## johnjory (Sep 19, 2013)

I am sure that some cabinet shop in your area has a drum sander wide enough to flatten it. Here, where I live in So. Oregon, there are shops that do take small jobs like that. With the little bit you have to remove I can't imagine it will take more than 15 minutes. You could also check a local high school to see if it has a large enough sander. I would bet the shop teacher would do it for you cheaply.
You will have to sand it again later most of us use 120 or even 80 grit paper in drum sanders.


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## gomolajoe (Apr 23, 2011)

DaninVan said:


> What Herb said. Try the bright red belts, Diablo, or 3M, I can't remember, but man what an improvement in sanding belts for wood!
> You also need a neoprene sanding belt cleaner. They do an amazing job of restoring the cutting ability of the belt when it gets a bit clogged with dust and resins.
> https://www.diablotools.com/products/DCB321120S02G


I had a tube of silicone caulk dry out. I cut it out of the tube and it works great for cleaning sanding pads. It works like an eraser. I don’t know if the cylinder shape would be handy on a belt sander like a neoprene pad. 
I’m just glad to have another use for the silicone caulk.


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## P-Bar (Mar 10, 2020)

Take it to a cabinetshop that has a wide belt sander . Problem solved


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

gmercer_48083 said:


> Use one of these.https://taytools.com/products/taytools-80-cabinet-scraper-plane


Good idea, Gary. I have one of these for this type of work, I love to have an excuse to use it.
https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/tools/hand-tools/planes/scrapers/48431-veritas-scraping-plane
Herb


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Herb Stoops said:


> Good idea, Gary. I have one of these for this type of work, I love to have an excuse to use it.
> https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/tools/hand-tools/planes/scrapers/48431-veritas-scraping-plane
> Herb


those are sweet...


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

Stick486 said:


> those are sweet...



See everything I have is not Harbor Freight......................GO Harbor Freight!!!
Herb


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Herb Stoops said:


> ....................GO Harbor Freight!!!
> Herb


I see the chum line is still working...


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