Greets –
I have quite a few pieces of bamboo flooring left over from doing one of the rooms in my place. Decided to make some panels out of a couple of them by edge gluing them together. That part was no problem. Kinda. Got a slight bow in the assembly and would like to get the panel sanded flat.
I say ‘sanded’ because there’s no way I’ll put an edge tool (hand plane) or even a power tool (planer/jointer) to the finish on this stuff. It’s hard(er) than nails I’m finding.
Other than gluing a shovel of rocks from my driveway to an old belt for the belt sander, does anyone know the best way to get this stuff ground off? I think it’s an aluminum oxide or aluminum-something kind of finish. I did once a while back try runnning a piece over the jointer to get down to raw bamboo – that’s why I know I’m not gonna try it again!
From Beautiful Skagit Co. Wa.
Dennis
Replies
Dennis:
Klingspor used to have 24 grit belts -- if you've got a belt sander, that's about as close to your shovelful of rocks that you can get.
Good luck.
Is it too late to screw them down to a backboard? (or the next ones you make?)
BTW I've machined planed Bamboo flooring and it came out great. Just take small cuts (My flooring is "5/8" prefinished with a micro bevel. I used some as trim and had to plane off about 3/16 (from the back).
Mark
Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, cut it with an ax.
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The aluminium oxide finish has excellent abrasion resistance so whatever you use it's going to be a slow process.
A coarse grit isn't really a good idea as it will leave you with deep scratches to be sanded out and the bamboo veneer isn't that thick. I'd be using 60 grit and cursing how long it was taking as well but it is the best way in the long run.
IanDG
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