Tuesday, January 04, 2005
Thicknessing the back and sides
Tonight I finished getting the back and sides almost to the final thickness. The final thickness will be about 0.090", but I left it a few thousandths thicker than that, as I will need to scrape out the swirl marks with a scraper.
I used the Wagner Saf-T-Planer in my drill press. It has three little blades on it that mill off the wood as it passes underneath. Normally, if this is done by machine it's done with a drum sander which leaves a nice smooth flat surface on the wood. These are pretty pricy, so I don't have one. The Saf-T-planer works pretty well, and it will be easy to make the surface smooth by hand with a cabinet scraper. It's kind of nerve-wracking, though, because it wouldn't take much of a slip up to ruin the wood or worse.
I used the Wagner Saf-T-Planer in my drill press. It has three little blades on it that mill off the wood as it passes underneath. Normally, if this is done by machine it's done with a drum sander which leaves a nice smooth flat surface on the wood. These are pretty pricy, so I don't have one. The Saf-T-planer works pretty well, and it will be easy to make the surface smooth by hand with a cabinet scraper. It's kind of nerve-wracking, though, because it wouldn't take much of a slip up to ruin the wood or worse.
