Quote:
Originally Posted by HemiEd
My planer is max 12 inch and after gluing you end up with 16, 20 and 24 inch wide pieces. I hand block planed the first one after gluing but this new Belt sander with 40 does a better job and grabs the dust real well.
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That's really what's kept me from doing any kind of involved hardwood work.
I'm just not good at 'merging' stock. I'm sure it has a name, but when it's time to glue some 2x6s together to form a table-top and then smooth it all out to give it a finished look, I always end up with something with too many high spots or grooves or just an otherwise sloppy look.
Part of the problem is a lack of good bar clamps. Jet makes the top of the line ones and on Black Friday you can find the rare discount on them, but man alive they're expensive. So I make due with mediocre pipe clamps and they just don't hold the pieces together well enough. My planer's a 12 inch Porter Cable and it's a nice machine but I was an idiot and ran a piece with nails in it through there without realizing it and took chunks out of my blades so invariably, when I need it, it's not an option. I guess I could just loosen and offset the blades to cover for the chunks but again, lazy and stupid.
So I'm pretty much incapable of anything approaching furniture grade at this point because anything with a top on it or even a wide side either requires that I buy ridiculously expensive wide stock or somehow affix a plywood (see: shitty) top.
It's like golf and hitting a baseball - I know what I
should do, I just don't seem to be able to actually do it.
As for dust collection, I'm kicking myself for not integrating a downdraft table into my bench. Those are miracle workers for sanding. I think I'm going to try a 'hinged' one with legs I can flip down to use and then hook into my dust collection ducts when in use. But again, that goes on the list behind 5 different projects for my daughter that haven't been made in a year, which is to say it will never actually get done.