I have a 2" thick 2'x4' pine table top that I have stripped to the bare
wood. I want to avoid sanding as much as possible. Would a scraper or
plane be the tool to use to get the top smooth. There are some minor
grooves nothing too deep.
Thanks.

the_mak wrote:
I have a 2" thick 2'x4' pine table top that I have stripped to the bare
wood. I want to avoid sanding as much as possible. Would a scraper or
plane be the tool to use to get the top smooth. There are some minor
grooves nothing too deep.


A good hand plane would work fine for that. A scraper would
be slower and unless the scraper is also mounted in a plane
body (e.g. scraper plane) it would smooth the wood but not
flatten it.

Also planes tend to leave a nicer (shinier) surface on softwoods
than do scrapers. Dunno why.

--

FF

"the_mak" wrote in news:1138734523.442688.181220
@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com:

I have a 2" thick 2'x4' pine table top that I have stripped to the bare
wood. I want to avoid sanding as much as possible. Would a scraper or
plane be the tool to use to get the top smooth. There are some minor
grooves nothing too deep.
Thanks.



Scraping pine is often a fool's errand. Tune and sharpen a good handplane,
and have a go at it.

You may end up using a little sandpaper to touch up the finished product,
but it shouldn't be too much of a challenge, or cause too much dust to be
stirred.

Patriarch

A good hand plane would work fine for that. A scraper would
be slower and unless the scraper is also mounted in a plane
body (e.g. scraper plane) it would smooth the wood but not
flatten it.

Also planes tend to leave a nicer (shinier) surface on softwoods
than do scrapers. Dunno why.


Agreed.

I think pine is too soft for a scraper unless it's SYP, scraping is
not slicing like a hand plane does, good point.

Mak pay attention to the direction of the grain too, or you'll get
tear-out. The shavings must be very very *thin* as well, if not
you'll get tear-out then. Super sharp blade too.

After sharpening test your blade adjustment depth settings on a
clamped scrap piece only, until it's perfect. You should be able
to read through the shaving, and watch this free video online:
http://www.hocktools.com/ It helps.

--
Alex - "newbie_neander" woodworker
cravdraa_at-yahoo_dot-com
not my site: http://www.e-sword.net/

On 31 Jan 2006 11:08:43 -0800, "the_mak"
wrote:

I want to avoid sanding as much as possible. Would a scraper or
plane be the tool to use to get the top smooth.

Sand it. Buy yourself a cheap sander if you don't fancy doing it by hand
- a 1/4 sheet takes a while but you get more for your money than a
bigger machine, and they're always handy. Don't skimp on the abrasives
either.

Planing and scraping are great, but not for this. Pine is too soft to
scrape easily. Planing a table needs some decent technique and ideally a
longer plane than a bench plane too (unless it's already good and flat).
If you're not already a planing wizz, then you might find it hard going
to get good results..

"Andy Dingley" wrote in message
...
On 31 Jan 2006 11:08:43 -0800, "the_mak"
wrote:

I want to avoid sanding as much as possible. Would a scraper or
plane be the tool to use to get the top smooth.

Sand it. Buy yourself a cheap sander if you don't fancy doing it by hand
- a 1/4 sheet takes a while but you get more for your money than a
bigger machine, and they're always handy. Don't skimp on the abrasives
either.

Planing and scraping are great, but not for this. Pine is too soft to
scrape easily. Planing a table needs some decent technique and ideally a
longer plane than a bench plane too (unless it's already good and flat).
If you're not already a planing wizz, then you might find it hard going
to get good results..

Good advise.
Dave