want to do away with my sander, tools for finishing advice

[mac1012]

Hi was not sure whether to post on here or finishing forum but here goes I make clocks out of pine and I been thinking again about minimising the dust in my workshop

I router my recess and I have got a pretty effective dust extraction system for that I cut them out on my hegner and then if they need a feckle I sand on my disk and belt sander then finish the faces with my Makita with two grades of paper.

I hate the dust the sanders create and I am looking again at using alternate methods

can anyone recommend a good plane to use if I need to trim the sides after scrolling or band sawing them ? just to clean up the edges that's all the lengths are about 9 inch I wondered what best plane to get and good enough for a beginner , also what tool could I use to produce a finish on the face is this achievable ?

I been looking at scrapers but they look a bit tricky to use any advice on what you guys use would be great otherwise I will look at rigging more effective dust extraction for my sanders !!

 

[marcros]

mark, what sander is the makita? is it hooked up to your dust extractor, and have you tried abranet abrasive? I find that with this sanding is almost dustless.

With handplanes, have you got a means of workholding? A stanley/record no 4 would probably do all that you require of it- go for an old one. If you are not into fettling tools, put a wanted ad on here- there are plenty of people with several who have them perfectly ready for use.

 

[GazPal]

Would it be possible for you to post a picture or pictures of your work? Size and form generally dictate suitable hand planes, but your description leads me to believe smaller planes may suit your work.

 

[mac1012]

thanks guys I haven't got Makita hooked up just looked at abranet marcus looks really interesting would it connect to my record dust ex ? looks like it will the record flexi adaptors are tapered so looks like it might fit on end pushing over mirka block I tried to see if screwfix or band q sell it looks like screw fix used to typical as one just down road from me b and q don't either seen company on net but 15 pound for sat delivery which size block do you use ?? people on ax reviews say it good but expensive don't look that way to me I pay over a tenner for hermes Velcro pads for 10 ! so the cost of block and 50 pads come to 30 pound and 50 pads are only 13.oo that's for 125mm x 70mm pads the bigger ones are more expensive but not by much

do you find you get good finish with the abranet ? looks like just what I need I like my Makita but the dust is annoying and I like the idea of hand sanding but no dust ! thanks for heads up on it going to order one soon I think

yes I have a sjoberg portable vice which is good so I can use that for plane.

gary the length of pieces are 8-9 inch and 20 - 40 mm thick

thanks mark

 

[marcros]

i have it on my orbital sander. The hand sanding block looks very good, and is on the list of things to get, albeit somewhat below other items at present. If you have access to a 150mm ROS, I can happily send you a couple of discs to try. My sander goes directly onto my Lidl vac, I am sure that you can get an adaptor to the record.

I find that the finish after abranet is good, and the product lasts well. I have only used it for a few months, and due to the cold havent done as much as i would have in the summer. The hand block, if I had one, I would use to just take out the very few orbial marks by running with the grain. It seems to cut a bit quicker than the equivalent traditional abrasive, so I would probably tend to go a grade finer than I would otherwise- if you use 180 ad 240 sandpaper, i find myself using 240 abra, and possiblt 320 if I needed to go further.

 

[andersonec]

Might sound a bit daft but why don't you just take your stuff outside and sand it?

Andy

 

[mac1012]

That will be ok for 2 days of the year but what about the rest ? hope you are wrapped up warm sanding outside in this weather :lol:

seriously though I like to sand on my work bench which is too heavy to move outside I need a nice steady flat work suface don't fancy using my old workmate outside.

I do have the door open though and it only a small workshop , I need a permanent solution not one that relies on our lovely british weather.

 

[GazPal]

I'd suggest a block plane for working the sizes you've mentioned and a #3 smoothing plane at most, but much depends on how you're processing your timber. Larger plane sizes obviously cover more yardage and a lot of surface prep can be done before you reduce timber to various project dimensions, but you'll still need to sand surfaces until you've mastered your planes.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Pine can be an awkward timber to finish with a scraper, because of the alternating hard and soft bands of early-wood and late-wood. The best finish I've ever managed on Redwood (Scot's Pine) was with a very sharp fine-set smoothing plane; the surface had a lustre I just haven't achieved any other way. That's fine for surfaces and straight edges, but doesn't help on scrolled or curved edges - a spokeshave would be good for initial smoothing and for 'breaking' the sharp edges, but final finishing with sandpaper would probably be needed.

I think I'd be tempted to find a good No.4 smoothing plane and learn how to get it really sharp. The advantage of this method is that you can set the plane fairly course and rough the parts down to size, then resharpen, set the plane fine, and work a final finish. However, to use it to best effect, you do need good workholding facilities such as a bench with vice and perhaps dogs; if you don't have such a bench, power sanding is probably still your quickest option.