advice needed for a near beginner

[LEVISTA]

Hi all,

My 1st post here, hope you can possibly help me out. I am a real beginner at this stuff Embarassed

For the next while I'll be having to do a lot of rounding of 1 edge of some long thin biits of wood. This pic might help me describe it better.

At the moment I am just using a mouse sander but it takes ages and gets expensive on the sander pads! Can anyone suggest a better quicker way of doing it, even if it costs a bit of money for an initial outlay? I've had a router suggested to me but wouldnt know where to begin, would this be the way to go though? Or are there other hand tools or machines that could do it??

thanks!

 

[mr]

How big is the radius you want to achieve? A router would be one way but there are planes that will achieve same.
Mike

 

[garywayne]

Hi LEVISTA.

Welcome to the forum.

If you don't want to use a router, you can always use a block plane.

I hope this is of some help.

 

[AndyG]

Welcome to the forum LEVISTA,

Using a router would certainly be nice and quick. Especially, if you place the router upside down in a router table. However, this method would require a bit of spending, but a router table is a extremely useful bit of kit.

Another, more gentle, approach is to use a moulding plane. These are littered all other the place, like car-boots, ebay etc. if you can find one with the right profile that would work. You can always tidy up with a quick sand afterwards.

A moulding plane in action. Looks a bit 'old-school', but they work.

As Mike mentioned, it kinda depends on the radius.
Andy

 

[Anonymous]

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[jasonB]

I have a Radi-plane that I use for small roundovers and Veritas do something similar

Jason

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Hi Levista

Welcome to the forum.

If you're happy working with power tools, then the router is probably the way to go. It would do the job for you and this is an example of the router bit/s that you would require.

Cheers
Neil

 

[LEVISTA]

Wow thanks for all the good advice folks, I bought a block plane in B&Q and its really making a fantastic difference in terms of speed. But i will check out some of those other options, and i think i secretly have my heart set on a router later :lol:

If i can ask another newbie question...

When i still need to do some sanding, I'm still using my little "Mouse" type sander (similar to this one. I realised the other day its power is something like 50W, but on an orbital sander like this the power is 5 times greater. Would i be right in thinking an orbital sander would do the same job with a lot more effect and get the job done a lot faster??

thanks!

 

[mr]

Ahh you see if you go with planes and scrapers you may not need to sand at all.
Thats not very helpful is it - too vague, but it is true
Cheers Mike

 

[Scrit]

Would i be right in thinking an orbital sander would do the same job with a lot more effect and get the job done a lot faster??

Yes, but probably use it has a larger available abrasive pad area (and sufficient power to drive that).

Scrit

 

[RogerS]

Would i be right in thinking an orbital sander would do the same job with a lot more effect and get the job done a lot faster??

thanks!

Yes..but you have to be REALLY careful because the speed with which these work, you will end up just flattening your angle rather than rounding it. Very, very delicate light pressure should work.

 

[LEVISTA]

brilliant, big thanks to all for the great advcie all around !