I decided to start a new thread for this one. I am now deciding to learn the art of hand planing, scraping, etc. because I am not happy with the results of the wide belt sander.
The table was originally to be one piece 42 x 60 as seen in this pic. The base has not been built yet.
Main Table.jpg
Then I decided I wanted a little more function so I added leaves. I regret doing that somewhat, because the leaf parts were cut after the main table parts and getting all the sizes perfectly even and matched was quite difficult considering the glue up has so many pieces. Nevertheless, whats done is done, and now I have to make it work.
With Leaves.jpg
I have pictures shown of the most troubling table flatness issues. It has been sanded on a local planing mills' wide belt. I wanted and needed the edge glued up prior to sanding to establish the plane of the table so it was sanded using runners and was hollow underneath spots. The hump was not there before sanding which tells me the sander deflected the top rather than sanding it. This pic shows the hump in the right half of the table. The gap shown is about 33% more than the height of the actual hump.
Table Hump.jpg
A total of 3/32 was taken off the top. You can see where the veneer is thinnest is still nearly 1/16 thick and I shouldn't even have to scrape that area much. If the sander did indeed deflect the table I shouldn't have to worry about scraping through the veneer in the middle.
Veneer Thickness.jpg
I always use their wide belt for my cabinet doors and stairway projects, but I will probably avoid it for my future finer pieces. I am really not happy about this gouge.
Sander gouge.jpg
The bottom of the table here is only slightly misaligned but the top as you can see looks terrible. Another issue that could have been avoided if I had hand planed. I am considering buying a joint plane to work in the joints between leaf and table halves.
Thickness issues.jpg
A scraper or block plane will probably work well for cleaning up the table edge.
Table edge.jpg