advice on planing or sanding tabletop
I am making a relatively small table out of alder, 42″x60″. I joined the boards with a Kreg jig, wood glue, and clamps and added a 1×2 trim around the edge (not pictured). Overall I am happy with how the boards joined but there are definitely minor ridges along some of the seams. It also seems to be mostly flat and level as a whole. I’m wondering what the best option for completely smoothing out the top is, just a whole lot of sanding passes with an orbital and a lower grit? I don’t have a belt sander but am not opposed to acquiring more tools. Or if I could use a plane even though the boards go two directions. I recently bought a powered hand plane and have not really used it at all. This is my first actual furniture project and am happy so far just looking for advice on the best route to go next. Also if anybody has any comments on good finishes for alder that would also be appreciated! Thanks!
Replies
From the point that you are at, I would go to the random orbital sander. I have no experience with hand planes, so cant say that way. But I use a 100 to 120 grit to start with and finish at 220. Be careful when sanding that you dont sand "waves" into the wood by working the seams to much. It is easy to do that but hard to fix after you do. Make sure that you get all, and I mean ALL, the glue that squeezed out sanded off. If you dont, the stain will not take the same and it will show the glue like a sore thumb. As for finish, I like minwax stains. Then I really like to top it off with the minwax polycrylic. If you apply enough layers, it gives the table top a great protective coat. If you ever need to refinish because of scratches, just add more polycrylic and your good. I will normally put 8 or more thicker layers of poly on a table. I like the look it gives and the protection as well. Dont be afraid of the milky color of the poly, it always dries clear. Just make sure you dont get drips or runs. I typically like to give the poly about 1 week at room temp to cure. When you put that much on, it takes a while to cure. It will tend to be "soft" until it cures.
In the end, best advice is patience. Patience in sanding and letting things dry and cure.
Don't use the power plane. That tool (for me) is for rough stock removal like leveling the sub-structure of a deck.
Depending on wood thickness and screw length I wonder how close to the surface the pocket screws are. I would go with the ROS to smooth the surface.
I never pass up the excuse to buy a new toy, I mean tool. I love my hand planes but you might struggle with tearout if your grain is going opposite directions. I try not to use a belt sander. They are real aggressive and you can get into trouble.
I would try a card scraper. Properly sharpened, they are perfect for working the surface of small areas, like your ridges. And they don't cause tearout near as bad as a hand plane. There's a few vids on FW (more on YouTube) on how to sharpen and use them. Also just some sandpaper sheets with a wooden block might work on the ridges. Work up through the grits.
Agree with MJ on the power planer. Leave it on the shelf for this job.
Hey,
Tabletops made of edge-joined boards of different species are my thing. So, when I encounter tough joints ike you're describing I use a card scraper to flatten the joints then sand.
The finish; 1st I use a light coat of shellac (2lb cut) to bring out the grain &, as shellac accepts any other finish, you can use whatever you'd like.
Mikaol
First, I would trim it up and then start working through the grits with an orbital and a sanding block. This being your first table, accept the imperfections and don't try and sand it perfectly flat.
awesome thanks! I'll get my hands on a card scraper and start with that, then get to sanding. And the shellac seems like what I will probably go with as well, I want to eliminate some of the red tones and keep the lighter brown. I don't necessarily want to stain it if I can avoid it. Maybe just go straight to a water poly after the shellac unless that is ill advised. You have all been very helpful as usual!
I'm loving my scrapers right now, but my thumbs do get sore.
Perhaps something a little nicer?
https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/tools/hand-tools/planes/scrapers/48431-veritas-scraping-plane?item=05P2901
I found scraping planes very finicky. For me, they were far more trouble than they are worth. But the Stanley 80 or the Veritas equivalent are great tools.
A hand plane would be fast-ish - but those knots and the reversing grain mean you'd likely struggle if you're a novice at it and only have a standard angle plane.
As others have noted, the machine planer is for rough work only.
An RO sander will work but will take a long time and you risk digging hollows if you're impatient or not well-versed in RO sanding technique.
You could hand-sand it with a large flat block wrapped in 80 grit paper - but that'll be the hardest, physically; and take a long time.
A scraper will give a good finish and be faster than an RO sander but, again, you risk digging hollows as you concentrate on the parts that need the most attention. Also, you will have very tired hands; and you'll need to learn to sharpen a scraper effectively as the edges of one won't last for that whole top considering the amount of shavings you need to remove.
The last option is fastest and safest but most expensive, probably - a good 4 inch belt sander in a sanding frame. It's much faster than an RO sander but needs the sanding frame to avoid the dig-ins and other over-sanding accidents that can easily happen when using a belt sander on a big top without a frame to limit it's aggression.
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Whatever you use, it'll pay to do some reading about best approach and technique in using the tool(s) involved. Don't rely on "instinct"; avoid under-thinking it. RTFM. :-)
Sometimes two or more tools is best, e.g. a framed belt sander to remove any bulk followed by a scraper or RO sander to fine finish it.
Lataxe
Start with a belts sander doing across the grain. Once it’s flat, put the belt sander in a shelf, and finish off with random orbital working up through grits 80, 120, ,180 etc.
But before you do anything remove those ridiculous AnaWhite Pocket screws!
That is how I would do also, using a belt sander at 45 degrees in a crisscross pattern with 60 grit with a final pass along with the grain once it’s flat to remove the diagonal scratches. Then the ROS as Robert described.
I think one of the critical points in these recommendations is that however you get to the final flat surface, you need to sand the whole top to the same finish grit so that any stain or finish will look uniform across the top.
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