I have two large ( I can still pick them up, so not to terribly large) slabs of Yellow Locust. They are the size of a desk top. They were taken right from the crotch of the tree so the grain pattern is fantastic. I will have to flatten and smooth them both. I love the work out of flattening by hand, but with a two year old and a five year old I don’t have much shop-time. Not to mention Locust is supposed to be really hard (and this is figured).
SO – invest in a good Belt Sander or just go the slow route (and honor my hand tools)
Thanks, Thomas
Replies
It depends
How rough and how uneven are the slabs? What is your skill level?
I am an experienced woodworker but still not sure about going after some big figured grain hardwood slabs with a hand plane.
If it were me doing it I would use some straight edges to locate the high spots and knock them down with a hand held power planer. I would then use hand planes to try smoothing and taking the edges off created by the power planer, I would then become tired and frustrated with my hand planes chattering across the hard figured grain, heck I tried! Then I'd grab the belt sander and float the surface out flat. Producing a flat surface on a large surface with a belt sander requires a high degree of skill of it's own and will take a lot of work with a ROS to get all the sanding scratches out.
Since you are asking the question I will assume that your skill level is "moderate". If that is the case I would recommend finding some one with a wide belt sander and pay them to sand it flat. That would probably provide the best result and would be a heckofa lot easier.
Good luck, Bret
Not familiar with Locust but.......
Did some Googling and found this interesting tidbit:
The extreme hardness of locust wood is due to crystals, called rhaphides, formed in the wood cells. These hard mineral deposits soon take the edge off of saws and chisels.
Anyway, mebbe a belt sander might not be such a bad idea afterall.
Regards,
My belt sander is gathering dust and is buried on the shelf. If I were in your shoes, I would be running for the Festool Rotex 150. Loaded up with 36 grit and put in direct drive, the rotex would make quick work of flatening that slap. Then work up through the grits till it's finished.
There is a learning curve to using the belt sander
Thomas:
I am assuming you are talking about buying a handheld belt sander (either 3" x 21" or 4" by 24"). It takes some practice to learn to use a belt sander well enough to get a slab flat. Much easier to learn to plane to flat in my own experience. You might want to consider making a big sled and using your router to flatten the slabs. Just a thought.
gdblake
Router with a big sled
I just saw an article on using a frame and a router for flattening. Plus if I invest in a router, it would have many more uses than a belt sander. But I am still more interested in the belt sander - What is the learning curve, I assume you would use winding sticks to find the high spots and then knock them down with the sander (same technique you use with hand planes). Plus I just saw a video on using a sanding frame to help keep the sander flat as you use it.
Thoughts,
Thomas
belt sanders
Belt sanders have a bad habit of digging in on one edge if the weight isn't suspended to a degree. Even then, it takes some experience to develop the skill, and on a large-ish slab, that can be hard on the back. Building an adjustable frame, essentially a large sanding jig, would help in that regard.
Note, too, that you may need to work both sides of the slabs, so equal amounts of fresh wood is exposed, so as to avoid warping.
Issues with using a belt sander to flatten a slab.
Thomas:
Yes, a belt sander is used much like a handplane. Use winding sticks to check for twist and a good straight edge. Sand first across the grain, then diagonally, and finish up with the grain. Obviously checking your work constantly.
Not all belt sanders are created equal. In general a 4" x 24" belt sander is easier to use than a 3" x 21' because of the larger surface area. There a huge differences between brands. I have a Makita 3" x 21" that is a fairly traditional, upright style where most of the weight is directly above the belt. My oldest son has a new Ridgid 3" x 21" that is a more linear design with a lower center of gravity. You would think that a lower center of gravity would make the sander easier to keep flat in relation to the surface of a board, but I personally don't find this to be the case. I find the sander awkward to use. Tool design is all subjective stuff. Don't buy any belt sander without handling it first to see if it feels balanced to you.
The bottom line is it takes practice with any tool to learn to use it proficiently. Belt sanders are no exception. Learning to control a sander takes practice. The best way to train yourself to keep the sander flat is to practice on plywood. As you work down through the veneers you can easily see if you are working the whole piece evenly. Let the tool's own weight supply all of the downward pressure. Keep a light grip and use both the front and rear grips in unison to guide the tool. Take a stance that allows you to keep your balance while shifting your weight back and forth as you move the sander forward and back.
However you decide to flatten your slabs, I hope you are able to get the results you are looking for.
gdblake
I'm biased against belt sanders
Thomas,
I have not used locust except as fence posts and that limited use left the impression that it is a very hard wood.
I still cringe when I think of the times I used a belt sander on furniture. Belt sanders somewhat difficult to control, especially on a large slab, and lack a reliable guide surface. It can be done, but your back will suffer. I use a portable power plane, which aren't too difficult to control and have a guiding surface. With careful use, the power plane is capable of extreme accuracy; usually requiring only minor work with a hand plane to be ready for finishing.
The only complication is the extreme hardness of locust. I'm just not sure how well it would hand plane. I'd power plane it, hand plane going across the grain with a finely set fore plane, and follow with a scraping plane. Lacking a scraping plane, you could use a card scraper, but it would have to be carefully done to preserve the flatness.
Rob Millard
http://www.americanfederalperiod.com
http://www.rlmillard.typepad.com
Rob,
Can you rec ommend a brand of power plane? Do you use it the same way as you would a hand plane?
Jim
Makita is the only one I have used
Jim,
I only have experience with a Makita 1100, which I bought 25 years ago and is no longer made. If mine were to give out,, I get the Makita 1912B. It looks large enough for accurate work, but not so large to be difficult to handle.
To me the most important thing is to have blades that I can sharpen myself, and the Makita's take and hold a good edge. Also their blade sharpening holder while simple, works very well.
Rob Millard
http://www.americanfederalperiod.com
http://www.rlmillard.typepad.com
I'd go with a belt sander, but...
Mine was without any belts when I did the last table top. So, I went with that old Liberty Bell handplane. It was a workout, but it did get that top flat. It looked like a pack of angry beavers had gone through. That plane is about 90 years old.
Industial sized thickness sander
Hello,
If you call around to some woodworking shops, I'll be that you could have them run it through thier thickness sander for about 30 bucks. It will be nice and flat when it comes out. I have done this before and have had no regrets.
Ed
Locust is hard!
It is hard. Never did any woodworking with it. It has always been my preferred firewood because it would burn so hot. It would dull a chainsaw like crazy. Back in VA, most of the locust trees were not that big if you have so decent slabs you have something. If it were me, I'd use a router and build guide rails. Here is a link to a blog that details a method that seemed good (I've not used it). I have a scrub plane and a #7 and winding sticks, but if you don't lready have all that, I think the router would be a good way to go.
http://lumberjocks.com/topics/1992
Good luck and post some picks I'd like to see what that looks like!
Black and Honey Locust
My current project is a sawbench, the same bench that Chris Schwarz has written about. The top of the bench is Honey Locust which looks a little like redwood and the rest of the bench is Black Locust which is more yellow in color. Two years ago my father and I build two decks, his and mine out of Black Locust, about 2300 sq feet between the two of us. Let me tell you, that wood is not only hard, the grain changes direction and it can be quite brittle when it is dry, which leads to nasty tearout. With my current project I have used a LN 4/1/2 smoothing plane with a 55 degree frog and still have some tearout. That said, do to the nature of Locust whatever you decide to build with your boards, rest assured it will last your life time. My youngest is 12, I like to think when I am gone and he takes up with my tools where I leave off, he can look back at something like my sawbench and say, "dad really made quality projects and knew the right wood to use". By the way the reason I used a handplane is I do not have a belt sander, also all the tenons were cut by hand because it was early enough in the day and my wife was questioning my ability. I will post some pictures when it is complete.
Jay
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