Thickness sander? - Guitar Building Tricks and Tips

RE: Thickness sander?

tv1 — Mon, 13 Feb 2023 20:01:40 +0000

Sharpening and planing.

Skills on my “to acquire someday” list.

RE: Thickness sander?

NSJ — Mon, 13 Feb 2023 17:09:14 +0000

@swepri oh god yeh, I know exactly what you mean! Lol

I find my big stanley no 7 really haleps with that, I find that difficult with smaller planes unless it's a big flat board. Like a guitar top, I can flatten that right out with the no 4 but for joiing body blanks and such, it has to be the no 7 for me. Just tilt the blade slightly then run across a couple of times and done.

A lot of people set up a shooting board but I haven't got the hang of that yet, also my space isn't set up right to use it properly.

RE: Thickness sander?

swepri — Mon, 13 Feb 2023 16:39:24 +0000

@nsj I actually can sharpen the blades alright, but my planing technique is so bad I can't make the wood flat... 🤨

Practice makes perfect, I suppose.

RE: Thickness sander?

NSJ — Mon, 13 Feb 2023 16:19:11 +0000

@swepri I bought a fairly cheap set of diamond stones off amazon, now I can plane highly figured wood and all sorts with no tear out. I seem to be able to get them really sharp which makes a big difference with handplanes.

RE: Thickness sander?

swepri — Mon, 13 Feb 2023 13:33:32 +0000

I have a drum sander to tackle the thickness (and flatness) of fretboards. It takes a few passes but there is no risk for tearout. Then I cut the fret slots. I make the radius using a router bit, usually with a 12" radius, on the router table. I feared that this step could cause tearout at the fret slots, but no problems yet. Maybe due to the router bits still beeing sharp and shiny.

But I haven't done more than a few fretboards, so time will tell, I guess.

I am really struggling with hand planing, so I practise that on cheaper wood. 🙂

RE: Thickness sander?

Koendb — Mon, 13 Feb 2023 05:50:07 +0000

I always make the radius before I cut the fret slots as I find using a plane can chip at the slots.

It should not chip if the blade is sharp enough, but yes, it is always possible and a good solution to mitigate the possibility of tear out 👍

So ideal order: plane to thickness, radius with plane, slots, dot markers, sand flush. ( or leave out the plane and just use a sanding beam :-D )

RE: Thickness sander?

Rocknroller912 — Sun, 12 Feb 2023 21:15:20 +0000

@koendb

I always make the radius before I cut the fret slots as I find using a plane can chip at the slots.

RE: Thickness sander?

NSJ — Sun, 12 Feb 2023 19:17:17 +0000

@koendb I must admit, with the new long beam I bought it's a lot quicker and I get really nice results, I think ideally I would plane first then use the beam. Best of both.

RE: Thickness sander?

Koendb — Sun, 12 Feb 2023 18:44:35 +0000

@nsj Yes I know you meant flattening, I just wanted to point out that you can also do the radius with a plane. I never get good results with sanding alone and it takes too much time :-)

RE: Thickness sander?

NSJ — Sun, 12 Feb 2023 18:30:16 +0000

@koendb I mean for the inital flattening, getting the board nice, level and straight. I've never tried planing the radius in yet but do fancy trying it, need to get some radius gauges first.