smoothing a wide back rail for chair
I’m building 12 dining room chairs and the design calls for a curved rail at the back of the chair that’s 4 3/4″ wide and 16″ long. I’ve roughed out the shape with a bandsaw and now I need to smooth it. It’s too wide for router usage and too wide for a spindle sander. While I can handle the back part of the curve on my 12″ disc sander, I can’t figure out how to smooth the front of the curve. With 12 of these parts to make, I’d rather not have to use a hand scraper. Any suggestions?
Replies
Full size spindle sander?
I think a full-sized spindle sander with 9" spindles would do the job. After years of "making do" I recently sprung for one of these and am very happy with it.
http://grizzly.com/products/Oscillating-Spindle-Sander/G1071
Frank
smoothing
You could buy some beer and have a sanding party. But, you need to be pretty smooth already to sell that one. ;-)
actuary,
This job is the reason the compass plane was invented.
Ray
Lathe
If you have a lathe you could make a long spindle that would be used on the lathe itself. I've seen this somewhere in a mag... Woodsmith or ShopNotes I think... but I can't remember how the sandpaper was attached to the spindle.
smoothing
The sanding party with beer is a terrific idea; I'd just be concerned with how close the end result would be to what I want...
The 9" spindle sander sounds like a real possibility but I'll have to find someone who owns one because I can't justify spending $800 on a free standing unit that I can't fit into my small shop.
A compass plane might work here but, given my lack of experience with it, I'd be concerned about tearout.
What about inserting a long dowel in a drill press and wrapping it with sandpaper? Do you think that might work?
depends
"What about inserting a long dowel in a drill press and wrapping it with sandpaper?"
Depends on the drill press, I'd think. The quill in many smaller, non-industrial units may not take to the side pressure well. If you turn a ½" tenon on each end of a 2" dowel, and make a jig to hold a bearing for the bottom end, clamping the jig to the table, you might minimize the problems.
Or, if you have a belt sander, you could use the round end with the sander held in a fixture like that shown below. Not as elegant a solution as the 9" spindle sander, but potentially useful.
I hadn't thought of the belt sander approach but it's an excellent idea. My belt sander is upright as part of a free standing sanding center and is a little over 5" wide so it should handle the piece. I may have to construct a jig that will be perfectly perpendicular to the curved edge of the sander (which is at the top of the unit), or just do it free hand.
actuary,
were that my task, i would not hesitate to use a random orbit sander, even though the full diameter of the sanding pad does not make complete contact with the curve. just keep it moving and go from, say, 100 grit on up till you're happy.
eef
using a random orbit sander
My concern with an r.o. sander is on the inside of the curve, especially right at the center, where the disc won't make contact. If I were to split the curve into halves, I could do probably do most of each half but the center would still need some hand work. Right now, I'm trying to find someone with a minimum 5" spindle sander.
actuary,
the outer edges of the disc will contact if mild pressure is applied. the center of it will not. i have done this. it works.
eef
A properly sharpened hand scraper with large burr turned up on it would in fact do the work fairly quickly. Having a very smooth band saw cut with no divots along the way will make whatever process you use go a lot faster.
You make a good point about the bandsaw cut, John. It's time for me to replace the blade and tune up the bandsaw.
sanding of curved surface.
Years ago I made a set of Tage Frid dining room chairs. The backs of these were curved and I cut the curves of these with a band saw as you did. I sanded the backs with a 3X18" belt sander. I removed the platten of the belt sander and replaced it with an end from the sawed off curve. The piece of curve was kept in place by longer screws that held the original plattten in place. Lucky for me the curved platten allowed me to use the original belt for the sander. With curved platten in place I was able to follow the curve of the back exactly and rough sand the curve with out deviation. Worked like a charm. I followed this up with hand sanding using a sanding block made from the same curve covered with a 1/8" thick layer of cork.
RO sander
An friend just completed some dining room chairs a few months ago, and had the same problem. He used a Festool orbital with the soft interface foam pad and it worked perfectly.
Problem solved!
The stationary belt sander was the answer. With minimal fuss and minimum time, I used the rounded end of the belt sander to smooth the inside curve of the back rail. My hands don't shake so I was able to do it free-hand with excellent results. I was able to hold onto the tenons at both ends to avoid sanding my fingertips...
Thanks for all the feedback.
"Every problem has a solution."
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