A few years ago I eased the edges of an oak face frame (by hand), then
sanded the flat surfaces and then colored the wood with some dye. It was
pretty unobservant of me, but I hadn't noticed that the sanding had
pretty much negated the eased edge. Having colored the wood (to match
other furniture), I couldn't ease the edges again, so I left them
"sharper" than I might have liked.

Fast forward to now, lesson (potentially) learned. I'm planning to put a
small chamfer on the edges of my panel doors. I'm guessing I should do
that after I complete the rest of the sanding. But will I then need to
sand the chamfered edge also, or will the router leave it smooth enough?
I assume some sanding will be called for, but starting at what grit?

I assume some sanding will be called for, but starting at what grit?

I had trouble following exactly at first. To me "easing" edges is
simply a final sanding with hand held sandpaper to break all sharp
edges where someones hand might touch the project. I am applying like
a 128th inch radius. So if I chamfered something I would later break
the edges of the chamfer.

I'll use a small piece of worn 220 unless I am doing a darking color
on the wood, then I use a worn piece of 150 so I don't burnish the
edge and then can't get color to stay on the edges which rubs off
sometimes anyway.

On 11/21/2011 3:18 PM, SonomaProducts.com wrote:
I assume some sanding will be called for, but starting at what grit?

I had trouble following exactly at first. To me "easing" edges is
simply a final sanding with hand held sandpaper to break all sharp
edges where someones hand might touch the project. I am applying like
a 128th inch radius. So if I chamfered something I would later break
the edges of the chamfer.

I'll use a small piece of worn 220 unless I am doing a darking color
on the wood, then I use a worn piece of 150 so I don't burnish the
edge and then can't get color to stay on the edges which rubs off
sometimes anyway.

The result I'm looking for is chamfered edges on the frame pieces of
some panel doors I'm building. The preamble was my long-winded way of
expressing what made me worry about sanding after a relatively subtle
edge treatment. Feel free to ignore it.

I've got 1x3 oak that I want to be smooth and chamfered (a little). I'm
fishing for advice about how to make that happen. I'm think I should
sand the flat surfaces first, then chamfer then... I'm not sure.

I've got 1x3 oak that I want to be smooth and chamfered (a little). I'm
fishing for advice about how to make that happen. I'm think I should
sand the flat surfaces first, then chamfer then... I'm not sure.

I would use a stiff sanding block with fresh 150 paper and make a few
careful passes along the face of the chamfer on the sides aligned with
the grain and a few short strokes on the end grain portions to flatten
out any router chatter or saw blade marks, depending how I did the
chamfer.

Then again a single pass or two with 220 on a stiff backer. Always
being careful to keep it real flat.

Then, and this is just me, I would soften the sharp edges of the
chamfer just barely with some worn sandpaper in my hand to ease the
edges.

On Nov 21, 6:52*pm, "SonomaProducts.com" wrote:
I've got 1x3 oak that I want to be smooth and chamfered (a little). I'm
fishing for advice about how to make that happen. I'm think I should
sand the flat surfaces first, then chamfer then... I'm not sure.

I would use a stiff sanding block with fresh 150 paper and make a few
careful passes along the face of the chamfer on the sides aligned with
the grain and a few short strokes on the end grain portions to flatten
out any router chatter or saw blade marks, depending how I did the
chamfer.

Then again a single pass or two with 220 on a stiff backer. Always
being careful to keep it real flat.

Then, and this is just me, I would soften the sharp edges of the
chamfer just barely with some worn sandpaper in my hand to ease the
edges.

Thank you. That sounds clear and doable. Eventually I hope to develop
a "just me", but I'm still in the "just making it work" stage.

"Greg Guarino" wrote

..........................I'm planning to put a small chamfer on the edges
of my panel doors. I'm guessing I should do that after I complete the rest
of the sanding. But will I then need to sand the chamfered edge also, or
will the router leave it smooth enough? I assume some sanding will be
called for, but starting at what grit?

Perhaps its better not to chamfer - you're likely to slightly dubb (round)
the arrises and spoil the highlights reflected from them.

Jeff, who reckons you can often tell the quality of a workman by the quality
of his arrises.


--
Jeff Gorman, West Yorkshire, UK
email : Username is amgron
ISP is clara.co.uk
www.amgron.clara.net

Looks like I accidentally posted from my daughter's account , by the
way. Damn Google Groups.

On 11/21/2011 11:58 PM, wrote:
On Nov 21, 6:52 pm, wrote:
I've got 1x3 oak that I want to be smooth and chamfered (a little). I'm
fishing for advice about how to make that happen. I'm think I should
sand the flat surfaces first, then chamfer then... I'm not sure.

I would use a stiff sanding block with fresh 150 paper and make a few
careful passes along the face of the chamfer on the sides aligned with
the grain and a few short strokes on the end grain portions to flatten
out any router chatter or saw blade marks, depending how I did the
chamfer.

Then again a single pass or two with 220 on a stiff backer. Always
being careful to keep it real flat.

Then, and this is just me, I would soften the sharp edges of the
chamfer just barely with some worn sandpaper in my hand to ease the
edges.

Thank you. That sounds clear and doable. Eventually I hope to develop
a "just me", but I'm still in the "just making it work" stage.

On 11/21/2011 6:52 PM, SonomaProducts.com wrote:
I would soften the sharp edges of the
chamfer just barely with some worn sandpaper

I just noticed this detail. Talk to me about "worn" sandpaper. I've
often wondered about how sandpaper changes as it is used. It's obvious
enough that it gets clogged, and that at some point it wears down past
where it is useful, but is there really a task for which "worn"
sandpaper is the best choice? Wouldn't I just use some finer grit instead?

Incidentally, the above might be interpreted as an argument, rather than
a series of actual questions. Text can be deceiving. In my case, novice
that I am, most of my "questions" are indeed questions.

Greg Guarino wrote:
On 11/21/2011 6:52 PM, SonomaProducts.com wrote:
I would soften the sharp edges of the
chamfer just barely with some worn sandpaper

I just noticed this detail. Talk to me about "worn" sandpaper. I've
often wondered about how sandpaper changes as it is used. It's obvious
enough that it gets clogged, and that at some point it wears down
past where it is useful, but is there really a task for which "worn"
sandpaper is the best choice? Wouldn't I just use some finer grit
instead?
Incidentally, the above might be interpreted as an argument, rather
than a series of actual questions. Text can be deceiving. In my case,
novice that I am, most of my "questions" are indeed questions.

Worn sandpaper can burnish rather than cut. That may be desireable, or it
may not. Sorta depends...

--

-Mike-

I just noticed this detail. Talk to me about "worn" sandpaper. I've
often wondered about how sandpaper changes as it is used. It's obvious
enough that *it gets clogged, and that at some point it wears down past
where it is useful, but is there really a task for which "worn"
sandpaper is the best choice? Wouldn't I just use some finer grit instead?

If you hand sand a lot you start to get a feel for how much the paper
is cutting. Fresh paper cuts very well but is less forgiving in a
sense. It is alos stiff. You will find that as the paper wears it
becomes more pliable and is a little better suited for working around
corners.It also looses some of the grit so it cuts a little slower.

Also, if you will be staining with pigment stain (ie Minwax) you don't
want the scratches created by the sanding grit to be too fine or the
pigments in the stain won't have anywhere to lodge. The pigments are
esentially fine dust, but not too fine. Finer sandpaper will burnish
the surface, sort of laying down the edges of the previous scratches
rather than leaving new finer scratches.

Honestly, I don't go around thinking about this too much but there is
reasoning behind my approaches.