am I wasting my time?

[sunnybob]

Trying to sand a piece of rosewood flat.
you can see in the picture there are what look like grooves in the wood.
I used a router on a sled to get it flat, which usually works for beech and maple. Then I started sanding.
I've been sanding this piece for a while, with 60 grit, and those grooves dont seem to be getting any closer to the surface.
Will this wood go completely flat? I want it for a jewellery box lid.

 

[Blockplane]

Try using a cabinet scraper, see if it makes any difference.

 

[sunnybob]

Dont have one. Tried it again on the router sled, took a half mil off and sanded again.
marginally better but not good enough for box lid.
I might have to go another route.

 

[Ollie78]

What about a good sharp plane?. If you dont have a proper cabinet scraper you can use almost any sharp flat blade in a scraping motion. A plane iron, wide chisel, a linbide or bahco carbide scraper. You can make a scraper from an old saw or similar metal.
Another solution to what appear to be soft patches in the grain is to epoxy resin it or use a timber stabilizer on it. Let the epoxy set and then sand it or scrape it or whatever.

Good luck .

Ollie

 

[custard]

The problem is that Rosewood is harder than most other woods, so progress with sanding is that much slower, especially as the waxy/oily nature of Rosewood tends to resist abrasion and clog up even stearated papers pretty quickly.

Personally I wouldn't be trying to remove gouges or deeper depressions on Rosewood by sanding, life's too short. If for whatever reason you can't get the job 99% done with a bench plane or scraper then I'd be tempted to abandon Rosewood altogether. It's a sensationally beautiful timber, but so are plenty of other woods that are far easier to work.

Just my 2p's worth.

 

[sunnybob]

I think its time to jump ship with this wood. I've spent the whole morning with router and sander and these fault lines are all the way through the wood. looks as though the tree had several drought years and the wood didnt grow properly.

Luckily I can still use the wood for other things, just not flat surfaces.

 

[thetyreman]

I would use a cabinet scraper for this, from my experience if it's sharp enough you will rarely need sandpaper, the tool's ideal for difficult and interlocking grain when a plane isn't working.

 

[MIGNAL]

That just looks like the typical tear out you get with working rosewood with tools that aren't quite up to the job. Cabinet scraper that costs a few quid and lasts a decade or two even with fairly frequent use.

 

[sunnybob]

I'm under time duress on this one, shall just find another wood. But I will research a scraper.

 

[YorkshireMartin]

I'd tackle this with my LA jack plane and a 57 angle of attack, I think it would make short work of it.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Tried cross planing it with a perfectly sharp blade? Then scrape it. You can use broken sheet glass to scrape with - it works really well but the edge doesn't last long. Just find shards with clean breaks and very gentle curves.

 

[novocaine]

overthinking the scraper.

stanley knife blade, everyone has one or 2 floating about, works a charm, you can roll the corners if you are worried about digging in.

as you said though, move on, put it in the pile for next time.

 

[sunnybob]

I just went out and bought a plank of walnut. Oh what a difference!!!!
Looked smooth enough to be polished straight from the router, let alone sanding. Nice figured too with that slight sideways ripple look, even when its dead smooth.

 

[morturn]

Walnut is always a good choice, great to work with, interesting grain and it can get an amazing finish on it.

I have used rosewood on acoustic guitars, it looks great, sounds great but is a real pain to work with due to its oiliness. It will clog up sandpaper in a few passes.

 

[Ttrees]

Try using a cabinet scraper, see if it makes any difference.

Dont have one. Tried it again on the router sled, took a half mil off and sanded again.
marginally better but not good enough for box lid.
I might have to go another route.

Go out to your local DIY place and buy a single cut farmers own file
and buy a thin cutting burn your clothes disc for an angle grinder and cut up an old handsaw
Hey presto you've got a scraper
Looks like tearout to me judging by your pic
But you should learn to use the double iron really
Good luck