I've been doing some small joinery projects ie dovetail boxes and box
joint boxes. In order to not undersize the pins and tails I cut them
just a little longer than needed and then sand them down flush with each
side of the box.

I've been using my hand held 3x21 belt sander to sand but even with a
light touch I tend to round the sides unevenly.

I've started looking at benchtop belt sanders wondering if this would be
a better way to sand the box sides flat. I've looked at the ryobi,
ridged 4 inch $99 belt sanders and also the delta. All of these have
the disk sander. I've seen the larger 6 inch belt 9 inch disk sander
but not the Jet.

The larger delta seems to have a better movable work table than the $99
sanders.

I've just about decided on the larger delta but 2 things concern me.

I work outside. When the weather is nice on weekends I'm doing
woodworking. When it is crappy like today I'm doing other things.

All of my tools need to be portable. I don't use the stands for the
most part that come with the tools. I just set it on a portable table
when I need it (using clamps to stablize if needed) and put it on a
shelf when I don't. How heavy is the delta without the stand?

Second, will the wider belt really help me much? I'm not sure I need
the disk sander part. I would sooner just buy a wider belt without the
disk but I have not seen one yet. I've thought of one of the wide belt
sanders but those would probably too heavy and seem to require a dust
collection system (my dust collection system is a broom and the
occational breeze that blows across the front yard).

I have both the 4" and 1" Delta sanders. I couldn't give you a weight but
they are not difficult to carry. That said, I wouldn't use either for what
you are doing. Invest in a plane and a scraper. Level the joints with a
plane, smooth everything with the scraper and then, if sanding is still
necessary (I do it), a sanding block is all you need. This will keep
everything flat and level.

"william kossack" wrote in message
...
I've been doing some small joinery projects ie dovetail boxes and box
joint boxes. In order to not undersize the pins and tails I cut them
just a little longer than needed and then sand them down flush with each
side of the box.

I've been using my hand held 3x21 belt sander to sand but even with a
light touch I tend to round the sides unevenly.

I've started looking at benchtop belt sanders wondering if this would be
a better way to sand the box sides flat. I've looked at the ryobi,
ridged 4 inch $99 belt sanders and also the delta. All of these have
the disk sander. I've seen the larger 6 inch belt 9 inch disk sander
but not the Jet.

The larger delta seems to have a better movable work table than the $99
sanders.

I've just about decided on the larger delta but 2 things concern me.

I work outside. When the weather is nice on weekends I'm doing
woodworking. When it is crappy like today I'm doing other things.

All of my tools need to be portable. I don't use the stands for the
most part that come with the tools. I just set it on a portable table
when I need it (using clamps to stablize if needed) and put it on a
shelf when I don't. How heavy is the delta without the stand?

Second, will the wider belt really help me much? I'm not sure I need
the disk sander part. I would sooner just buy a wider belt without the
disk but I have not seen one yet. I've thought of one of the wide belt
sanders but those would probably too heavy and seem to require a dust
collection system (my dust collection system is a broom and the
occational breeze that blows across the front yard).

I've tried it with a plane etc but cutting cross grain is an SOB
especially with really hard wood. Have you ever tried to plane purple
heart or ebony end grain?

CW wrote:
I have both the 4" and 1" Delta sanders. I couldn't give you a weight but
they are not difficult to carry. That said, I wouldn't use either for what
you are doing. Invest in a plane and a scraper. Level the joints with a
plane, smooth everything with the scraper and then, if sanding is still
necessary (I do it), a sanding block is all you need. This will keep
everything flat and level.

"william kossack" wrote in message
...

I've been doing some small joinery projects ie dovetail boxes and box
joint boxes. In order to not undersize the pins and tails I cut them
just a little longer than needed and then sand them down flush with each
side of the box.

I've been using my hand held 3x21 belt sander to sand but even with a
light touch I tend to round the sides unevenly.

I've started looking at benchtop belt sanders wondering if this would be
a better way to sand the box sides flat. I've looked at the ryobi,
ridged 4 inch $99 belt sanders and also the delta. All of these have
the disk sander. I've seen the larger 6 inch belt 9 inch disk sander
but not the Jet.

The larger delta seems to have a better movable work table than the $99
sanders.

I've just about decided on the larger delta but 2 things concern me.

I work outside. When the weather is nice on weekends I'm doing
woodworking. When it is crappy like today I'm doing other things.

All of my tools need to be portable. I don't use the stands for the
most part that come with the tools. I just set it on a portable table
when I need it (using clamps to stablize if needed) and put it on a
shelf when I don't. How heavy is the delta without the stand?

Second, will the wider belt really help me much? I'm not sure I need
the disk sander part. I would sooner just buy a wider belt without the
disk but I have not seen one yet. I've thought of one of the wide belt
sanders but those would probably too heavy and seem to require a dust
collection system (my dust collection system is a broom and the
occational breeze that blows across the front yard).

Yes. No problem. Sharp is the key.

"william kossack" wrote in message
...
I've tried it with a plane etc but cutting cross grain is an SOB
especially with really hard wood. Have you ever tried to plane purple
heart or ebony end grain?

"william kossack" wrote in message
...
I've been doing some small joinery projects ie dovetail boxes and box
joint boxes. In order to not undersize the pins and tails I cut them
just a little longer than needed and then sand them down flush with each
side of the box.

Snip


Second, will the wider belt really help me much? I'm not sure I need
the disk sander part. I would sooner just buy a wider belt without the
disk but I have not seen one yet. I've thought of one of the wide belt
sanders but those would probably too heavy and seem to require a dust
collection system (my dust collection system is a broom and the
occational breeze that blows across the front yard).

I a very sharp low angle block plane ,to get about right and then a ROS
sander to finish it off ./

One other consideration ,the setup. I take a board a width about the length
of the inside length of the drawer . clamp it on the bench so it extends
several drawer depths .Slide the drawer onto the, preferrably with out the
bottom in place , this makes for a well supported drawer side so you can
confidently do any operations you desire on the sides

"william kossack" wrote in message
...
I've tried it with a plane etc but cutting cross grain is an SOB
especially with really hard wood. Have you ever tried to plane purple
heart or ebony end grain?


You might want to try a flush-cutting router bit with the bearing on the
bottom, or a jig with a spiral bit in your router table.

Big disadvantage to sanding the off - though it's possible, is you have to
be pretty high up on the stationary sanding chain before you get a good
table to move them side to side to prevent burning and end checking. I've a
JET 12x48 that fills the bill, but at $500 dollars, there are other ways.
Perhaps if you're also the turner Bill you might justify the purchase by
using it for making up pieces for segmented turning.

I tried the flush trim router bit and discarded that approach. It would
work to a point but a little slip really screwed up the edge of the box.

I also tried using a plane but with such thin stock and hard wood I had
problems with breakout at the ends. Cuts had to be into the wood but
getting the angle right when cutting in from the edge was a problem as
is keeping the cut square. I ended up with flush pins and tails but not
square to the surface of the box (which is the same problem I'm battling
with the hand held belt sander) but power sanding avoids the chip out
problem. Then if cutting in and getting close I ran into a problem of
starting to cut the side of the box. Nothing is more irritating than
getting close to finishing a step then to put a gouge into the side of
the work because the angle of the plane was just a bit off.

After many experiments I decided that the easiest approach was the
carefull use of a belt sander to knock down the pins enough so I could
proceed with using scrappers, planes and sanding to smooth the surface
for finishing

I've used the hand held belt sander with success and a light touch on
many projects. My main problem is in holding the belt sander level and
not being able to see what I'm doing while sanding. My idea is that
with a stationary sander I can get more control and more consistent
results. I also tried a fein detail sander. I could see what I was
doing but the small surface area takes too long.

Many of the boxes are small about 6 inches wide using 1/4 inch stock.
Examples of my work can bee seen at
http://home.comcast.net/~wskossack/new_boxes.html

I looked again at the $99 solution and the tables are not good enough.
The Delta 6 inch belt and 9 inch disk has a better table. I seems light
enough to be transportable but provides a better table and a wider
sanding surface.

George wrote:
"william kossack" wrote in message
...

I've tried it with a plane etc but cutting cross grain is an SOB
especially with really hard wood. Have you ever tried to plane purple
heart or ebony end grain?



You might want to try a flush-cutting router bit with the bearing on the
bottom, or a jig with a spiral bit in your router table.

Big disadvantage to sanding the off - though it's possible, is you have to
be pretty high up on the stationary sanding chain before you get a good
table to move them side to side to prevent burning and end checking. I've a
JET 12x48 that fills the bill, but at $500 dollars, there are other ways.
Perhaps if you're also the turner Bill you might justify the purchase by
using it for making up pieces for segmented turning.

william kossack wrote:
I've been doing some small joinery projects ie dovetail boxes and box
joint boxes. In order to not undersize the pins and tails I cut them
just a little longer than needed and then sand them down flush with each
side of the box.

I've been using my hand held 3x21 belt sander to sand but even with a
light touch I tend to round the sides unevenly.

I've started looking at benchtop belt sanders wondering if this would be
a better way to sand the box sides flat. I've looked at the ryobi,
ridged 4 inch $99 belt sanders and also the delta. All of these have
the disk sander. I've seen the larger 6 inch belt 9 inch disk sander
but not the Jet.

The larger delta seems to have a better movable work table than the $99
sanders.

I've just about decided on the larger delta but 2 things concern me.

I work outside. When the weather is nice on weekends I'm doing
woodworking. When it is crappy like today I'm doing other things.

All of my tools need to be portable. I don't use the stands for the
most part that come with the tools. I just set it on a portable table
when I need it (using clamps to stablize if needed) and put it on a
shelf when I don't. How heavy is the delta without the stand?

Second, will the wider belt really help me much? I'm not sure I need
the disk sander part. I would sooner just buy a wider belt without the
disk but I have not seen one yet. I've thought of one of the wide belt
sanders but those would probably too heavy and seem to require a dust
collection system (my dust collection system is a broom and the
occational breeze that blows across the front yard).

If I had this problem I would try to solve it this way. I would place
a layers of duck tape under the sanding belt to make the platen
slightly convex. My Mikita sander can be easily mounted on its side.
With the sander in this position, I would sand at the highest point of
the curve. This could solve your problem of rounding over the
dovetailed corner, and without buying more tools.

Good luck,

Ray

wrote :
[snip solution to problem]

This could solve your problem of rounding over the
dovetailed corner, and without buying more tools.

I'm sorry...*what*? Not buy more tools...? What on earth would he want to
do that for? : )

Jason

"Jason Quick" wrote in message
news:5oPme.75336$yV4.72927@okepread03...
wrote :
[snip solution to problem]

This could solve your problem of rounding over the
dovetailed corner, and without buying more tools.

I'm sorry...*what*? Not buy more tools...? What on earth would he want
to
do that for? : )

Jason

Rethinking the question , what he needs to do is practice woodworking for
say 5 or ten more years then he could possibly get the sides of his drawers
right.mjh

william kossack says...

After many experiments I decided that the easiest approach was the
carefull use of a belt sander to knock down the pins enough so I could
proceed with using scrappers, planes and sanding to smooth the surface
for finishing

How about this for a risky, but possibly accurate and easy way to get
them down: Use your table saw. I use mine to shave pieces down all the
time. If the box isn't 100% square, you can even tilt the blade a
little. I'd try it. Maybe I'd regret it, but I'd try it.

I had thought of trying something like this except for the need to put
everything away at the end of the day. The best solution would be some
kind of jig that would hold the belt sander at 90 degrees to a table top.

I typically do a run of 3-5 boxes at a time so sanding out the dovetails
on all of them takes me say 30 minutes to an hour at which point I go
onto the next step such as continuing to refine the surface until it is
smooth and flat and nearly ready for finish.

PS I like to put all my smaller tools back into their original box at
the end of the day and all the larger stuff has their place in various
nooks in the garage.

wrote:
william kossack wrote:

I've been doing some small joinery projects ie dovetail boxes and box
joint boxes. In order to not undersize the pins and tails I cut them
just a little longer than needed and then sand them down flush with each
side of the box.

I've been using my hand held 3x21 belt sander to sand but even with a
light touch I tend to round the sides unevenly.

I've started looking at benchtop belt sanders wondering if this would be
a better way to sand the box sides flat. I've looked at the ryobi,
ridged 4 inch $99 belt sanders and also the delta. All of these have
the disk sander. I've seen the larger 6 inch belt 9 inch disk sander
but not the Jet.

The larger delta seems to have a better movable work table than the $99
sanders.

I've just about decided on the larger delta but 2 things concern me.

I work outside. When the weather is nice on weekends I'm doing
woodworking. When it is crappy like today I'm doing other things.

All of my tools need to be portable. I don't use the stands for the
most part that come with the tools. I just set it on a portable table
when I need it (using clamps to stablize if needed) and put it on a
shelf when I don't. How heavy is the delta without the stand?

Second, will the wider belt really help me much? I'm not sure I need
the disk sander part. I would sooner just buy a wider belt without the
disk but I have not seen one yet. I've thought of one of the wide belt
sanders but those would probably too heavy and seem to require a dust
collection system (my dust collection system is a broom and the
occational breeze that blows across the front yard).


If I had this problem I would try to solve it this way. I would place
a layers of duck tape under the sanding belt to make the platen
slightly convex. My Mikita sander can be easily mounted on its side.
With the sander in this position, I would sand at the highest point of
the curve. This could solve your problem of rounding over the
dovetailed corner, and without buying more tools.

Good luck,

Ray

Since no one else has said it...

I have the small oscillating Ridgid sander and love it. Okay, it isn't big
enough, and the dust collection is terrible, and it probably won't last 10
years; but it works pretty good and can't be beat for the price. (and what
do you care about dust collection.)

I have used it to sand down a lot of box joints (and a few dovetails) and it
does a good job. It will burn cherry at times, but it comes right off with
a ROS.

I think I tried it and my little skil tablesaw would not do it. The
problem is that the little pins and tails pieces that are sticking out
tend to catch and drag.

On my list one of these days is a better work site tablesaw good enough
for what I need but light enough to pick up. I don't have the room for
a big good tablesaw.

Hax Planx wrote:
william kossack says...


After many experiments I decided that the easiest approach was the
carefull use of a belt sander to knock down the pins enough so I could
proceed with using scrappers, planes and sanding to smooth the surface
for finishing


How about this for a risky, but possibly accurate and easy way to get
them down: Use your table saw. I use mine to shave pieces down all the
time. If the box isn't 100% square, you can even tilt the blade a
little. I'd try it. Maybe I'd regret it, but I'd try it.

william kossack says...

I think I tried it and my little skil tablesaw would not do it. The
problem is that the little pins and tails pieces that are sticking out
tend to catch and drag.

On my list one of these days is a better work site tablesaw good enough
for what I need but light enough to pick up. I don't have the room for
a big good tablesaw.

What you need is a Bosch 4000. I have one and it's a pretty darned good
saw. I have never noticed it wanting for quality of construction or
accuracy and it is light enough to pick up and carry away, although it
is awkward. The table is flat and the fence clamps parallel to the
blade, but the fence is kind of simplistic. There is only one slot for
attaching hold downs or accessory fences. There are improved after
market fences available for it. The zero clearance insert they sell for
it is crappy, but I just made one out of canarywood and that problem is
solved. It has its shortcomings compared to a Unisaw with a
Biesenmeyer, but it's all you need for small and medium sized projects.
I just made a new crosscut sled too. I would use that and a good, sharp
60T finishing blade for your purpose.

On Mon, 30 May 2005 11:02:33 -0600, william kossack
wrote:

I've been doing some small joinery projects ie dovetail boxes and box
joint boxes. In order to not undersize the pins and tails I cut them
just a little longer than needed and then sand them down flush with each
side of the box.

I've been using my hand held 3x21 belt sander to sand but even with a
light touch I tend to round the sides unevenly.

I've started looking at benchtop belt sanders wondering if this would be
a better way to sand the box sides flat. I've looked at the ryobi,
ridged 4 inch $99 belt sanders and also the delta. All of these have
the disk sander. I've seen the larger 6 inch belt 9 inch disk sander
but not the Jet.

I've got the 4" belt/6" disc Delta, and it works pretty well for what
you're describing, especially if you use the little table that comes
with it.

All of my tools need to be portable. I don't use the stands for the
most part that come with the tools. I just set it on a portable table
when I need it (using clamps to stablize if needed) and put it on a
shelf when I don't. How heavy is the delta without the stand?

As noted above, I have the 4"/6", and it's very light. It didn't come
with a stand, so I bolted it to a piece of 3/4" ply, and then bolted
that to an old wooden stool. The whole assembly can't weigh more than
50 lbs, and it's easy to move around because it has such a small
footprint.

Second, will the wider belt really help me much? I'm not sure I need
the disk sander part. I would sooner just buy a wider belt without the
disk but I have not seen one yet. I've thought of one of the wide belt
sanders but those would probably too heavy and seem to require a dust
collection system (my dust collection system is a broom and the
occational breeze that blows across the front yard).

I guess I've never had a problem with the 4" belt. If something is
wider than that, I just slide it around on the sander, and it works
fine for me. OTHO, I often think about getting another one with a 1"
belt for touching up the insides of corners. It all depends on how
you're going to use it.

On Mon, 30 May 2005 16:02:35 -0400, "George" george@least wrote:


"william kossack" wrote in message
...
I've tried it with a plane etc but cutting cross grain is an SOB
especially with really hard wood. Have you ever tried to plane purple
heart or ebony end grain?


You might want to try a flush-cutting router bit with the bearing on the
bottom, or a jig with a spiral bit in your router table.

Big disadvantage to sanding the off - though it's possible, is you have to
be pretty high up on the stationary sanding chain before you get a good
table to move them side to side to prevent burning and end checking. I've a
JET 12x48 that fills the bill, but at $500 dollars, there are other ways.

I just move them back and forth by hand, but I suppose a $500 sander
is the other way to go. A little practice goes a long way, and saves
a lot of money.

Perhaps if you're also the turner Bill you might justify the purchase by
using it for making up pieces for segmented turning.

how are the slots on it?

one of my peeves with the skil is the stupid tabs they use to hold the
miter in the slot. I ended up cutting the tabs out on one side so I
could make a cross cut sled that would cut consistently.

Hax Planx wrote:
william kossack says...


I think I tried it and my little skil tablesaw would not do it. The
problem is that the little pins and tails pieces that are sticking out
tend to catch and drag.

On my list one of these days is a better work site tablesaw good enough
for what I need but light enough to pick up. I don't have the room for
a big good tablesaw.


What you need is a Bosch 4000. I have one and it's a pretty darned good
saw. I have never noticed it wanting for quality of construction or
accuracy and it is light enough to pick up and carry away, although it
is awkward. The table is flat and the fence clamps parallel to the
blade, but the fence is kind of simplistic. There is only one slot for
attaching hold downs or accessory fences. There are improved after
market fences available for it. The zero clearance insert they sell for
it is crappy, but I just made one out of canarywood and that problem is
solved. It has its shortcomings compared to a Unisaw with a
Biesenmeyer, but it's all you need for small and medium sized projects.
I just made a new crosscut sled too. I would use that and a good, sharp
60T finishing blade for your purpose.

There are a lot of good responses in this thread. Have you tried
chiseling them off? A sharp 1" chisel held with the bevel down would be
able to quickly get them within block-sanding range. Just make sure
you're moving from the outside of the joint inward so it doesn't split
the wood.

Another thought I had was to use a flush-cut trim saw, followed by
block sanding.

I always trim my joints with a block plane, but if this isn't working
for you, maybe the chisel or saw are worth a try?

-Mike

william kossack wrote:
I've been doing some small joinery projects ie dovetail boxes and box
joint boxes. In order to not undersize the pins and tails I cut them
just a little longer than needed and then sand them down flush with each
side of the box.

I had some bad chip outs with a plane. I think the worst was an ebony
box I was joining together. There is nothing worse then getting close
to having it done and then having the grain split taking out a big chunk
of wood. The other problem is scoring the side of the box with the
plane if it is not perfectly flat and level. You have little wood for
corrections with thing stock.

Again this is with really small dovetails

Mike Reed wrote:
There are a lot of good responses in this thread. Have you tried
chiseling them off? A sharp 1" chisel held with the bevel down would be
able to quickly get them within block-sanding range. Just make sure
you're moving from the outside of the joint inward so it doesn't split
the wood.

Another thought I had was to use a flush-cut trim saw, followed by
block sanding.

I always trim my joints with a block plane, but if this isn't working
for you, maybe the chisel or saw are worth a try?

-Mike

william kossack wrote:

I've been doing some small joinery projects ie dovetail boxes and box
joint boxes. In order to not undersize the pins and tails I cut them
just a little longer than needed and then sand them down flush with each
side of the box.

"Prometheus" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 30 May 2005 16:02:35 -0400, "George" george@least wrote:
Big disadvantage to sanding the off - though it's possible, is you have
to
be pretty high up on the stationary sanding chain before you get a good
table to move them side to side to prevent burning and end checking.
I've a
JET 12x48 that fills the bill, but at $500 dollars, there are other ways.

I just move them back and forth by hand, but I suppose a $500 sander
is the other way to go. A little practice goes a long way, and saves
a lot of money.


The large, steady iron table comes equipped with a miter groove which allows
you to use a square fixture to transport the piece. Minimizes roundover and
burn.

william kossack says...

how are the slots on it?

one of my peeves with the skil is the stupid tabs they use to hold the
miter in the slot. I ended up cutting the tabs out on one side so I
could make a cross cut sled that would cut consistently.

The slots are standard 3/4" x 3/8" rectangular. I'm kind of unimpressed
with the miter gauge that came with it, but that's OK because I almost
never use it. Since the slots are industry standard, you can buy after
market miter guages, but sleds are essential for serious woodworking,
IMO, and those are easy enough to make.

william kossack:

I had thought of trying something like this except for the need to put
everything away at the end of the day. The best solution would be some
kind of jig that would hold the belt sander at 90 degrees to a table top.

Like this:
http://www.dewalt.com/us/products/at...productID=5945

See pics at bottom of above link.

Dave

Or a homemade equvalent. I just grab my ryobi 3x18 by the handle in a
workmate upside down. It has ridges that are specifically designed to
hold the sander level while upside down.

Yeah, it's sounding like for you a belt sander would be the way to go.

Have you thought about making one? You would be able to control the
design to handle your specific needs this way, save some money, and
probably build one with portability in mind so you can schlep it
outside:

http://www.metalwebnews.com/howto/sander1/sander.html

http://members.aol.com/woodmiser1/sander.htm

william kossack wrote:
I had some bad chip outs with a plane. I think the worst was an ebony
box I was joining together. There is nothing worse then getting close
to having it done and then having the grain split taking out a big chunk
of wood. The other problem is scoring the side of the box with the
plane if it is not perfectly flat and level. You have little wood for
corrections with thing stock.

Again this is with really small dovetails

Mike Reed wrote:
There are a lot of good responses in this thread. Have you tried
chiseling them off? A sharp 1" chisel held with the bevel down would be
able to quickly get them within block-sanding range. Just make sure
you're moving from the outside of the joint inward so it doesn't split
the wood.

Another thought I had was to use a flush-cut trim saw, followed by
block sanding.

I always trim my joints with a block plane, but if this isn't working
for you, maybe the chisel or saw are worth a try?

-Mike

william kossack wrote:

I've been doing some small joinery projects ie dovetail boxes and box
joint boxes. In order to not undersize the pins and tails I cut them
just a little longer than needed and then sand them down flush with each
side of the box.

On Tue, 31 May 2005 07:55:17 -0600, william kossack
wrote:

I had some bad chip outs with a plane. I think the worst was an ebony
box I was joining together. There is nothing worse then getting close
to having it done and then having the grain split taking out a big chunk
of wood. The other problem is scoring the side of the box with the
plane if it is not perfectly flat and level. You have little wood for
corrections with thing stock.

Again this is with really small dovetails

A couple of times you have mentioned thin stock and small dovetails.
Given those facts, unless you are leaving them reaaaaaallllly proud
(like a 1/2" or so) I would think a decent ROS would take them down
rather quickly (seconds, not minutes). That meets the other needs of
portability, etc.

Dave Hall

I may have to look at it.

Ofcourse what to do with the skil tablesaw with a modified slot?

Hax Planx wrote:
william kossack says...


how are the slots on it?

one of my peeves with the skil is the stupid tabs they use to hold the
miter in the slot. I ended up cutting the tabs out on one side so I
could make a cross cut sled that would cut consistently.


The slots are standard 3/4" x 3/8" rectangular. I'm kind of unimpressed
with the miter gauge that came with it, but that's OK because I almost
never use it. Since the slots are industry standard, you can buy after
market miter guages, but sleds are essential for serious woodworking,
IMO, and those are easy enough to make.

except that I already had the hand held belt sander when I started
building boxes.

I also tried an old BD sandstorm sander. For some boxes I still use it
for some finish sanding but I like the Fein much better. The smaller
head on the Fein lets me see what I'm doing but it takes longer.

Mostly I have just 1/8 or 1/16 or less of an inch to remove. I've never
really measured it. I think the ROS would have the same problem as the
belt sander. I would not be able to see what what happening and before
I knew it I would cut into the side of the box.

Over time I've made perhaps 30 boxes like the ones on the web page. I
always try to cut so just a bit sticks out after the box is put
together. If the pin is too short you have to remove more wood and more
wood means more work. If you think about it 30 boxes translates to 120
sets of dovetails over the past couple years and one of the most tedious
steps that I hate is sanding them down and then having to fix places
where I over did it.

The belt sander works well except when I over do it. With really small
dovetails the last thing you want to do is pull in a direction not
supported by wood because many woods can chip out if you look at them
wrong and hold pull out and down from the edge of the wood. When that
happens you have to figure out how to fill the hole or fix the chip. I
always sand into the wood

I like the belt sander holder but I learned long ago that rigging things
should only be a temperary solution. A good stationary belt sander is
what I need. One that I can pick up off the shelf, put on a table, set
it up and then sand 5 or 6 boxes. I pick up and move a ridged thickness
planer every month or so. Moving it from a shelf to a table using it
then putting it back on the self.

Dave Hall wrote:
On Tue, 31 May 2005 07:55:17 -0600, william kossack
wrote:


I had some bad chip outs with a plane. I think the worst was an ebony
box I was joining together. There is nothing worse then getting close
to having it done and then having the grain split taking out a big chunk
of wood. The other problem is scoring the side of the box with the
plane if it is not perfectly flat and level. You have little wood for
corrections with thing stock.

Again this is with really small dovetails


A couple of times you have mentioned thin stock and small dovetails.
Given those facts, unless you are leaving them reaaaaaallllly proud
(like a 1/2" or so) I would think a decent ROS would take them down
rather quickly (seconds, not minutes). That meets the other needs of
portability, etc.

Dave Hall

Sure can't beat the look of finish end grain that has been cut clean,
without beating up the fibers with a sanding machine. In the final
analysis, it just a question of what the craftsman will settle for.

ray

On Tue, 31 May 2005 20:39:32 -0600, william kossack
wrote:

I like the belt sander holder but I learned long ago that rigging things
should only be a temperary solution. A good stationary belt sander is
what I need. One that I can pick up off the shelf, put on a table, set
it up and then sand 5 or 6 boxes. I pick up and move a ridged thickness
planer every month or so. Moving it from a shelf to a table using it
then putting it back on the self.

A short tip on keeping those boxes under control when you get the
stationary sander- I've found that holding them with my left hand on
the front edge with my forearm across the top of the box with my right
hand gripping the back edge makes it very easy to keep things level
while moving the piece to prevent burning. (I'm right-handed, so if
you're a southpaw, you may need to do the reverse.) I shot a couple
of pieces across the shop before I figured that one out, so I figured
I'd pass it along, just in case. The same technique works especially
well for web frames.

except there is not much end grain pattern on a surface that is 1/4 by
say 1/2.

I wonder if a really small plane like that used for making violins might
help finish up each tail/pin and get a nice surface once most of the
material has been removed. The key in my view is being able to see what
your doing. With a larger plane it hides that small area that is being
cut just as the hand held belt sander hides it.


wrote:
Sure can't beat the look of finish end grain that has been cut clean,
without beating up the fibers with a sanding machine. In the final
analysis, it just a question of what the craftsman will settle for.

ray

I was wondering if some kind of clamping jig would help especially one
that fits into the guide slot on the table

Prometheus wrote:
On Tue, 31 May 2005 20:39:32 -0600, william kossack
wrote:


I like the belt sander holder but I learned long ago that rigging things
should only be a temperary solution. A good stationary belt sander is
what I need. One that I can pick up off the shelf, put on a table, set
it up and then sand 5 or 6 boxes. I pick up and move a ridged thickness
planer every month or so. Moving it from a shelf to a table using it
then putting it back on the self.


A short tip on keeping those boxes under control when you get the
stationary sander- I've found that holding them with my left hand on
the front edge with my forearm across the top of the box with my right
hand gripping the back edge makes it very easy to keep things level
while moving the piece to prevent burning. (I'm right-handed, so if
you're a southpaw, you may need to do the reverse.) I shot a couple
of pieces across the shop before I figured that one out, so I figured
I'd pass it along, just in case. The same technique works especially
well for web frames.

"william kossack" wrote in message
news
I was wondering if some kind of clamping jig would help especially one
that fits into the guide slot on the table

I mentioned that I did it, and it does work.