I have built a frame as part of a chest of drawers. Two of the pieces
of wood are not level. Can anyone suggest a good way of levelling them?
I am thinking about using a planer (I am not very good with a hand one
- is a power planer harder to use?) or a belt sander to sand down the
protruding piece to the right height. Any suggestions would be greatly
appreciated.

"Dave In Oz" wrote in message
ups.com...
I have built a frame as part of a chest of drawers. Two of the pieces
of wood are not level. Can anyone suggest a good way of levelling them?
I am thinking about using a planer (I am not very good with a hand one
- is a power planer harder to use?) or a belt sander to sand down the
protruding piece to the right height. Any suggestions would be greatly
appreciated.


I'd use a sander.


--
Regards,

Dean Bielanowski
Editor, OnlineToolReviews.com
http://www.onlinetoolreviews.com
Over 110+ woodworking product reviews online!
-----------------------------------------------
Latest 6 Reviews:
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=========================

Definitely scraper time.

--
Stoutman
http://www.garagewoodworks.com

Got a friend who has a wide belt sander like a Performax? If not, try a
local cabinet shop and see if they would run it for you. WB sanders really
fix these kinds of problems.


"Dave In Oz" wrote in message
ups.com...
I have built a frame as part of a chest of drawers. Two of the pieces
of wood are not level. Can anyone suggest a good way of levelling them?
I am thinking about using a planer (I am not very good with a hand one
- is a power planer harder to use?) or a belt sander to sand down the
protruding piece to the right height. Any suggestions would be greatly
appreciated.

On 3 Sep 2006 01:08:12 -0700, "Dave In Oz"
wrote:

I have built a frame as part of a chest of drawers. Two of the pieces
of wood are not level. Can anyone suggest a good way of levelling them?
I am thinking about using a planer (I am not very good with a hand one
- is a power planer harder to use?) or a belt sander to sand down the
protruding piece to the right height. Any suggestions would be greatly
appreciated.

It'd help if you gave a little more information. What is causing them
to be not even? Have you glued it already? If not and it's a mortice
and tenon type of joint you can tweak the alignment by adding a piece
of veneer to one side of the tenon and shaving a bit off the other
side. If it's already glued up then you don't have any choice but to
sand or plane it flush.


-Leuf

Leuf wrote:
On 3 Sep 2006 01:08:12 -0700, "Dave In Oz"
wrote:

I have built a frame as part of a chest of drawers. Two of the pieces
of wood are not level. Can anyone suggest a good way of levelling them?
I am thinking about using a planer (I am not very good with a hand one
- is a power planer harder to use?) or a belt sander to sand down the
protruding piece to the right height. Any suggestions would be greatly
appreciated.

It'd help if you gave a little more information. What is causing them
to be not even? Have you glued it already? If not and it's a mortice
and tenon type of joint you can tweak the alignment by adding a piece
of veneer to one side of the tenon and shaving a bit off the other
side. If it's already glued up then you don't have any choice but to
sand or plane it flush.


-Leuf

Unfortunatelt it is already glued - it was a biscuit join that I messed
up and didn't realize until after it was glued. I learnt my lesson
about dry assembly! Thanks everyone for all your advice - I am stuck
with sanding with an orbital sander as that is all I have. I guess it
will be a long afternoon!

about dry assembly! Thanks everyone for all your advice - I am stuck
with sanding with an orbital sander as that is all I have. I guess it
will be a long afternoon!

It depends on how mych you are out. A ROS tends to round over an edge
because of the soft sanding pad. If the offending ledge is 1/32 or more it's
not going to work very well. What you really want to do is create a ramp
rather than a roundover. A card scraper it pretty effective for a small
ramp, A hand plane is really the right tool for a crating a large ramp.

What you really want to do here is shape you stock. Most sanders are best at
smoothing and actually do a poor job of flattening (the excepting being
something like a Performax thickness sander).

If you must sand, start at a high course grit and sand up to, but resist the
temptation to sand over the line. Only when you are done flattening and have
moved up to finer grits, should you cross over the line.

-Steve

On 4 Sep 2006 01:44:39 -0700, "Dave In Oz"
wrote:


Leuf wrote:
On 3 Sep 2006 01:08:12 -0700, "Dave In Oz"
wrote:

I have built a frame as part of a chest of drawers. Two of the pieces
of wood are not level. Can anyone suggest a good way of levelling them?
I am thinking about using a planer (I am not very good with a hand one
- is a power planer harder to use?) or a belt sander to sand down the
protruding piece to the right height. Any suggestions would be greatly
appreciated.

It'd help if you gave a little more information. What is causing them
to be not even? Have you glued it already? If not and it's a mortice
and tenon type of joint you can tweak the alignment by adding a piece
of veneer to one side of the tenon and shaving a bit off the other
side. If it's already glued up then you don't have any choice but to
sand or plane it flush.


-Leuf

Unfortunatelt it is already glued - it was a biscuit join that I messed
up and didn't realize until after it was glued. I learnt my lesson
about dry assembly! Thanks everyone for all your advice - I am stuck
with sanding with an orbital sander as that is all I have. I guess it
will be a long afternoon!

Well, in that case I would scrap the job. Its not right and never will
be. As we say in the business...."sometimes you just have to rip it
apart".

"Dave In Oz" wrote in message
ups.com...


Unfortunatelt it is already glued - it was a biscuit join that I messed
up and didn't realize until after it was glued. I learnt my lesson
about dry assembly! Thanks everyone for all your advice - I am stuck
with sanding with an orbital sander as that is all I have. I guess it
will be a long afternoon!

If it's real bad any chance you can use a thin pull saw (e.g., Japanese saw)
to cut all the joints apart on that side and then redo the biscuit joints?
If done carefully I'd think you could reuse the parts with little loss of
width to side grain piece. Worse case you make one new piece...

One reason I mention this is that you might end up with a gap between the
face frame and carcass if you simply flatten the face side...

John

Well, in that case I would scrap the job. Its not right and never will
be. As we say in the business...."sometimes you just have to rip it
apart".

You're joking right? Tongue in cheek? I think knowing how to correct
things like this that distinguishes a real craftsman.


Dude, DON"T sand it. As C&S posted it will round your stock at the edges.

Woodcraft, Wood Workers Supply and Rockler (I have all three local to me,
G-L-O-A-T) all three sell cabinet scrapers. This IMHO is the tool for the
job.

If you don't have a Woodcraft or Rockler near you. Order one and wait for
it to arrive.

John Grossbohlin wrote:
If it's real bad any chance you can use a thin pull saw (e.g., Japanese saw)
to cut all the joints apart on that side and then redo the biscuit joints?

Put a _chainsaw_ through it if you have to, and that's the best and
most accurate saw you have. If the piece is big, and you're making the
frame before you're making all the parts that fit around it, then you
can almost always afford to lose a saw kerf off the overall width.

Biscuiting tip - don't use the fence. If you can arrange this, and the
height adjustment is right, then lay both things face down on a flat
bench and use the big solid face of the biscuit jointer as the guide,
not the narrow wobbly fence.

not the narrow wobbly fence.

You are either using your biscuit jointer incorrectly or it's time for a new
one.

On Mon, 04 Sep 2006 14:57:44 GMT, "Stoutman" [email protected] wrote:

Well, in that case I would scrap the job. Its not right and never will
be. As we say in the business...."sometimes you just have to rip it
apart".

You're joking right? Tongue in cheek? I think knowing how to correct
things like this that distinguishes a real craftsman.


Dude, DON"T sand it. As C&S posted it will round your stock at the edges.

Woodcraft, Wood Workers Supply and Rockler (I have all three local to me,
G-L-O-A-T) all three sell cabinet scrapers. This IMHO is the tool for the
job.

If you don't have a Woodcraft or Rockler near you. Order one and wait for
it to arrive.


maybe I'm not reading the message correctly, so, I'll put it this way
- If he has made an error that now leaves him in a position that he
must modify the work to compensate for the error, then I'd take it
apart, start over.

On Mon, 04 Sep 2006 14:09:20 -0400, Joe Bemier
wrote:

maybe I'm not reading the message correctly, so, I'll put it this way
- If he has made an error that now leaves him in a position that he
must modify the work to compensate for the error, then I'd take it
apart, start over.

Remind me never to work with you

If I had to start over every time I screwed something up I'd still be
on my first project.


-Leuf

On Mon, 04 Sep 2006 22:05:02 -0400, Leuf
wrote:

On Mon, 04 Sep 2006 14:09:20 -0400, Joe Bemier
wrote:

maybe I'm not reading the message correctly, so, I'll put it this way
- If he has made an error that now leaves him in a position that he
must modify the work to compensate for the error, then I'd take it
apart, start over.

Remind me never to work with you

HA!......my two boys (28 & 26) would say "right Leuf, right"

If I had to start over every time I screwed something up I'd still be
on my first project.
I've learned that it is always better to start over. 45's that are no
longer 45. Square cuts that are no longer square. One screw-up can
have lingering consequences and require that out of spec adjustments.
Improvising is accepted.

I provide two examples; one which I consider acceptable improvising
and the other I feel is a "take apart"

A framer is building a gable dormer. The side wall height is 79" and
he builds the right hand wall first. When he goes to build the left
hand wall he messes up and cuts the studs 73" instead of 74.5".
In this case he can simply add an additional top plate to make up the
error. This is an acceptable course.

The same framer building a dormer messes up and has the left wall
forward of the right wall by 1.5". He finds his mistake that he went
to the wrong side of his mark when snapping a line. If this framer
continues his work, everything about the dormer will be wrong as it
will be out-of-square. It will cause other problems requiring
improviisation and maybe the dormer will never come together
correctly.

I've built a lot of stairs and one thing that I've learned is that
exactness from the start makes everything else that much smoother. I
strive for perfection.

Cheers,
J


-Leuf

On Mon, 4 Sep 2006 05:24:59 -0400, "C&S"
wrote:

about dry assembly! Thanks everyone for all your advice - I am stuck
with sanding with an orbital sander as that is all I have. I guess it
will be a long afternoon!

It depends on how mych you are out. A ROS tends to round over an edge
because of the soft sanding pad. If the offending ledge is 1/32 or more it's
not going to work very well. What you really want to do is create a ramp
rather than a roundover. A card scraper it pretty effective for a small
ramp, A hand plane is really the right tool for a crating a large ramp.

What you really want to do here is shape you stock. Most sanders are best at
smoothing and actually do a poor job of flattening (the excepting being
something like a Performax thickness sander).

If you must sand, start at a high course grit and sand up to, but resist the
temptation to sand over the line. Only when you are done flattening and have
moved up to finer grits, should you cross over the line.

One technique I've found effective with the ROS is to hold the sander
at a slight angle. This takes some practice as it is really unstable
and wants to run off on you. But if you hold it with two hands and
keep your arms steady, and move side to side just by shifting your
weight from one leg to the other I've gotten good results. It avoids
the rounding over problem as you're making more contact at the center.
It does tend to leave more swirlies this way, so finish up with the
sander flat.


-Leuf

Stoutman wrote:

not the narrow wobbly fence.

You are either using your biscuit jointer incorrectly or it's time for a new
one.

CoG is just better placed for guiding it from the face, instead of the
fence. Even though it's quite a good fence, it's still overhung.

On Tue, 05 Sep 2006 10:52:46 -0400, Joe Bemier
wrote:

On Mon, 04 Sep 2006 22:05:02 -0400, Leuf
wrote:

On Mon, 04 Sep 2006 14:09:20 -0400, Joe Bemier
wrote:

maybe I'm not reading the message correctly, so, I'll put it this way
- If he has made an error that now leaves him in a position that he
must modify the work to compensate for the error, then I'd take it
apart, start over.

Remind me never to work with you

HA!......my two boys (28 & 26) would say "right Leuf, right"

I'm 30 and tell them my dad's worse than their dad.


-Leuf

Dave In Oz wrote:
I have built a frame as part of a chest of drawers. Two of the pieces
of wood are not level. Can anyone suggest a good way of levelling
them? I am thinking about using a planer (I am not very good with a
hand one - is a power planer harder to use?) or a belt sander to sand
down the protruding piece to the right height. Any suggestions would
be greatly appreciated.

My hand plane (no electric planes then)teqnique in the early days of
starting woodworking was none existent,so I used to clamp the plane in a
worktop bench vice upside down and set the planes blade for minmium cut
then glide the wood across,I did wear welders gloves though,cant be too
carefull. :-)

--
Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

Dave In Oz wrote:
Leuf wrote:
On 3 Sep 2006 01:08:12 -0700, "Dave In Oz"
wrote:

I have built a frame as part of a chest of drawers. Two of the
pieces of wood are not level. Can anyone suggest a good way of
levelling them? I am thinking about using a planer (I am not very
good with a hand one - is a power planer harder to use?) or a belt
sander to sand down the protruding piece to the right height. Any
suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

It'd help if you gave a little more information. What is causing
them to be not even? Have you glued it already? If not and it's a
mortice and tenon type of joint you can tweak the alignment by
adding a piece of veneer to one side of the tenon and shaving a bit
off the other side. If it's already glued up then you don't have
any choice but to sand or plane it flush.


-Leuf

Unfortunatelt it is already glued - it was a biscuit join that I
messed up and didn't realize until after it was glued. I learnt my
lesson about dry assembly! Thanks everyone for all your advice - I am
stuck with sanding with an orbital sander as that is all I have. I
guess it will be a long afternoon!

oops! I see now your trying to plane/sand a wide piece. ;-)

--
Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

If you were a "REAL PRO" you would run the frame through your 53" wide
belt sander!


The3rd Earl Of Derby wrote:
Dave In Oz wrote:
Leuf wrote:
On 3 Sep 2006 01:08:12 -0700, "Dave In Oz"
wrote:

I have built a frame as part of a chest of drawers. Two of the
pieces of wood are not level. Can anyone suggest a good way of
levelling them? I am thinking about using a planer (I am not very
good with a hand one - is a power planer harder to use?) or a belt
sander to sand down the protruding piece to the right height. Any
suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

It'd help if you gave a little more information. What is causing
them to be not even? Have you glued it already? If not and it's a
mortice and tenon type of joint you can tweak the alignment by
adding a piece of veneer to one side of the tenon and shaving a bit
off the other side. If it's already glued up then you don't have
any choice but to sand or plane it flush.


-Leuf

Unfortunatelt it is already glued - it was a biscuit join that I
messed up and didn't realize until after it was glued. I learnt my
lesson about dry assembly! Thanks everyone for all your advice - I am
stuck with sanding with an orbital sander as that is all I have. I
guess it will be a long afternoon!

oops! I see now your trying to plane/sand a wide piece. ;-)

--
Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

This is a standard cooper's rig and it works well but I agree about the
gloves. A great way to get an unintended nail clipping.
"The3rd Earl Of Derby" wrote in message
.uk...

My hand plane (no electric planes then)teqnique in the early days of
starting woodworking was none existent,so I used to clamp the plane in a
worktop bench vice upside down and set the planes blade for minmium cut
then glide the wood across,I did wear welders gloves though,cant be too
carefull. :-)

--
Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

Stoutman wrote:
Well, in that case I would scrap the job. Its not right and never will
be. As we say in the business...."sometimes you just have to rip it
apart".

You're joking right? Tongue in cheek? I think knowing how to correct
things like this that distinguishes a real craftsman.


Dude, DON"T sand it. As C&S posted it will round your stock at the edges.

Woodcraft, Wood Workers Supply and Rockler (I have all three local to me,
G-L-O-A-T) all three sell cabinet scrapers. This IMHO is the tool for the
job.

If you don't have a Woodcraft or Rockler near you. Order one and wait for
it to arrive.

Why not cut the board down the length of the joint (bandsaw or tablesaw
with 1/8" thin blade), re-joint and re-glue? Adjust the remaining
dimensions to accomodate.

Oops, screwed up on posting order.

Why not cut the board down the length of the joint (bandsaw or tablesaw

with 1/8" thin blade), re-joint and re-glue? Adjust the remaining
dimensions to accomodate.