Squaring off wood block

Re: Squaring off wood block

Jim Matthews

I recommend using 3M 77 spray glue to fix a large sheet of sandpaper to a piece of 3/4 inch plywood. Place that on a stable surface and clamp it down.

Get a little help (the blocks are large) and drag the surface you want to finish across the sandpaper.

Re: Squaring off wood block

Barry Irby

There's flat and then there's really really flat. How flat do you need? Are these end tables? Stools?

I have a 6" Random orbit sander. It's very powerful. I would start with that. If that weren't enough or I had a particularly high spot I might hit it with a belt sander.

If I were starting from scratch I might rig up a router flattening sled, but these look too good already to consider that.

How flat do you really need? In good raking light, look across them and use a straight edge. Mark the high spots. Sand them off. Check again.

Incidentally, how dry are those blocks? I see they have some cracks so they have dried some, but if they are not acclimated to the space they will be in, they will continue to dry and if you are trying to get them really really flat, they will change over time.

Re: Squaring off wood block

Dick Coers

There is a difference between squaring off and sanding smooth. Best way to may the end square to a face is on a band saw with a miter gage. A second option is a router with a fixture. I'd start with a hand held belt sander to make it flat, then follow with a random orbit sander.

Re: Squaring off wood block

roger lance

Tara.....the thing I'd ask is "square and level to what"??

The sides of the pieces you showed don't appear to be flattened and if you want the ends flat and square, you have to get the sides that way first.

I suggest you ask a favor of the people in that woodshop to help you and, in exchange, you can help them with a finishing project.

Re: Squaring off wood block - piece of cake

TomD

The obvious approach, and the best approach, would be hand planes. But that takes a fair bit of work to get to the point where it is doable. Planes have two downsides: getting the plane working, and getting the piece solidly held. You can also do much the same kind of work with a super sharp slick chisel. This is a great exercise for chisels skills. You work facets as one might to form a pyramid, then whittle those down. It is less a matter of taking full width paces.

Option number 2 is to somehow attach a perimeter of wood that you can level, so that a router can be used to skim the surface. The perimeter can be just two slats on facing sides. You would take very light cuts. A lot more people have routers, and you don't have to know much to get a sharp bit in them, or adjust them, compared to planes. The holding bit would be a lot easier, potentially a few boards cleverly jammed would hold them with your body weight on them. You would need some kind of sled to span the guide boards when the router is all the way out to the edge.

I don't know what you want to use them for, or how, but if they were to be the legs under a glass table, we get to option number 3: Epoxy, or some kind of selective leveling. Build a dam around the tops, pour a level the epoxy, and remove. The epoxy makes a nice finish. Worst case, you end up with a not flat surface and you now have to level epoxy. Blobs of epoxy could level plywood, or something nicer.

Option 4: Don't level it, but level something applied to it. Imagine the pieces resting under your glass table, you could lay in 4 of those silicon foot pad. Just drill them to the level you want with a speedbore, or forstner bit, and lay them in so they are level. You can use epoxy to float them level to a surface. There are things you could screw in like leveling bolts, even screw, depends on the application

Option 5: A lot of us boatbuilders are artists with a 4 inch angle grinder. But these machines can be dangerous, and they raise the how to hold the pieces issue. Japanese would bind with rope pieces like these to a ready fence post and there is a wedge in there also, Tada, a vise. But holding is a whole other deal. Positive is that HF apparently sells a passable good angle grinder for a couple of ten spots. No personal experience with that tool, but their ratins should show which one it is.

There is always a way, comes down to creative thinking, and what tools or supplies you can lay your hands on, and what the service is for these parts.

Actually, the easiest fastest way is to scribe a line and saw it off with a hand saw. But I just assumed that was not going to be something you could do, due to parts being at full length. Hand saws are pretty easy to use, and will give a perfect cut every time in reasonably skilled beginner hands. The big advantage is that while really large power saws exist, like those specialty 16 or 20 inch timber circular hand saws, they are rare outside of timber framing circles, as are huge table saws and the like. But a cheap 7 dollar Japanese (just what they are selling at the big boxes these days) toolbox saw, will laser through a balk like that, and you can get a nearly finished surface. You can also usually get away with standing on the piece for holding. A standard 71/4 inch saw could cut from two sides, with a fence, but it is hard to get a perfect result, and the result depends on the stock being 4 square while a hand saw will cut without requiring a fence or alignment plate.