Planing against the grain?
 

Hi all,
I am making a 24" diameter cherry globe and I need some advice.
After making 18 piece segmented rings, I need to sand them flat. I don't
have a planer and couldn't find anyone with one big enough. So...I've been
sanding them by hand. For a better explanation (with pics) please go to:
www.studio407.net/the_war_of_the_world.htm
Suddenly on the fifth set of rings, I ran into a large jump in difficulty.
The amount of sanding required to flatten the rings doubled, and the amount
of sanding for the bevel at least doubled.
My question is this: now that the rings are under 20" dia, could I plane
them to make them flat without tearing out the grain? No matter how I feed
the ring, the leading and trailing sides are going to be planed against the
grain.
I don't mind a sore back but man...now my wrists, elbows, and shoulders, and
neck are hurting.
Thanks much,
-Mac

Yes, you certainly don't want it exploding inside the planer.
Especially a friends planer. Maybe try a "safety planer" that mounts on
your drill press? I feel your pain. Tom

Mac wrote:

Hi all,
I am making a 24" diameter cherry globe and I need some advice.
After making 18 piece segmented rings, I need to sand them flat. I don't
have a planer and couldn't find anyone with one big enough. So...I've been
sanding them by hand. For a better explanation (with pics) please go to:
www.studio407.net/the_war_of_the_world.htm
Suddenly on the fifth set of rings, I ran into a large jump in difficulty.
The amount of sanding required to flatten the rings doubled, and the amount
of sanding for the bevel at least doubled.
My question is this: now that the rings are under 20" dia, could I plane
them to make them flat without tearing out the grain? No matter how I feed
the ring, the leading and trailing sides are going to be planed against the
grain.
I don't mind a sore back but man...now my wrists, elbows, and shoulders, and
neck are hurting.
Thanks much,
-Mac


Is the resultant globe going to be perfectly smooth(round) or faceted?

Dave

Tom,
A safety planer for my DP? I might have to look this up.
David,
In theory, perfectly smooth. I have a template cut from cardboard I will
use for the final sanding. After gluing all the rings together, I'll use a
soft pad on my orbital sander to take off the peaks at the seems (between
rings).
It really doesn't have to be perfectly round as I'm going to carve into the
sphere, around the continents, for the oceans. I might even get a map of
the worlds ocean currents and carve the oceans following that chart.
-Mac

http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Luth...fetplaner.html
Tom

"Mac" wrote in message
ink.net...
Tom,
A safety planer for my DP? I might have to look this up.
David,
In theory, perfectly smooth. I have a template cut from cardboard I will
use for the final sanding. After gluing all the rings together, I'll use
a
soft pad on my orbital sander to take off the peaks at the seems (between
rings).
It really doesn't have to be perfectly round as I'm going to carve into
the
sphere, around the continents, for the oceans. I might even get a map of
the worlds ocean currents and carve the oceans following that chart.
-Mac



Why not take a belt sander to it? Can't imagine doing this by hand.

Planing against the grain?
 

Tom,
You rock!!
The Safe-t-planer was just the ticket.
Thanks man,
-Mac

Planing against the grain?
 

Greetings and Salutations....

On Sat, 08 Oct 2005 19:22:42 GMT, "Mac"
wrote:

Tom,
You rock!!
The Safe-t-planer was just the ticket.
Thanks man,
-Mac

Well, while I am behind the curve here (got
distracted from the newsgroups by the chaos of life),
another really good alternative is a drum sander.
I am building a 36" one just now, and if I can get
out to the shop will get the last 30% finished.
However...as I was saying...very easy to use,
and does a great job with things like this
as there is no real stress on the piece.
Many cabinet shops have them and often will
run stock through for a few cents a board foot
(or a six pack). If you do a lot, actually
purchasing one might be worthwhile.
Regards
Dave Mundt