Finish sand inside of carcass components before cutting dovetails?
fluxcapacitor121
| Posted in General Discussion on
The first time I cut dovetails I made the grave error of sanding the inside of each piece before assembly— after cutting the dovetails. Enter loose fitting dovetails.
I’m about to cut large dovetails on the four corners of a tv stand carcass. I am wondering if I should finish sand on the inside surfaces all the way before cutting the DTs? I’m guessing it will be 150 to 400 with a ROS. It’s a lot of surface area. My concern doing this is loosing the flatness on the ends of the boards where the DTs will be cut.
any advice appreciated.
Replies
Butt some scrap of the same material against the ends to keep the sander from peeking over the edge, go easy...especially on the coarse grits, and keep it moving. Use fresh scrap for each end. Hand sand with a hard cork block for the final grit after you cut the DTs to get rid of the clamp shine, holding back from the joints.
The board on the edge—brilliant. I’d have just hung the sander over the edge. Thanks!
Joel
I would pass on the RO sander and use a hard flat block with sandpaper wrapped around it. And the scrap block at the end to prevent rounding over.
What I really do is use a finely set cabinet scraper for a preliminary scrape before cutting the dovetails, then use a card scraper (not touching the joint areas) and fine sandpaper (again not hitting the joint areas) to prepare the visible areas.
Have you considered sanding everything to final grit first and then cutting the DT's?
I have zero experience with a card scraper. It’s on my list of things to learn.
My plan as of now is to sand the inside surfaces, cut DT’s (leaving them slightly proud) assembling, and then sanding the outside surfaces.
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