Removing waviness from edge-glued top?

[Andrew Wayland]

I may have bitten off more than I can chew here!

I have a bar top with edge glued boards made to a 24" depth and about 8 feet long.

I started with my belt sander and 120 grit paper to remove most of the lip between each board.

I've moved to a random orbital sander now, and I have nice smooth grain left to right, but forward to back I have quite a bit of waviness.

I'd like to level it out some: so that the end finish isn't wavy, and to keep cups from rocking (although I bet the waviness is over a long enough span that it wouldn't be an issue).

What's my best bet here? A manual hand plane?

[Jim Becker]

Andrew, did you use cauls while you were gluing up the panels to keep the surface flat? Theoretically you shouldn't have had those lips you mention. That said, the belt sander may have "bitten off more than you should have chewed". Any small, hand operated tool that's focused on this kind of problem is going to leave an uneven surface because as much as you might try to only take off the "high spots", you're also going to come in contact with the "low spots", too. Best solution is a wide-belt/drum sander, but if you have hand-plane skills, you may be able to work things out...and get some exercise, too.

[Andrew Wayland]

I'm limited to the tools I have right now: so I tried to make due with a Kreg Jig and some clamps. Unfortunately even with the clamps I wasn't able to keep the boards perfectly even.

I'm willing to bet the hand plane won't be as much of a workout as the belt sander! Boy was my upper body screaming after using that (at least when leaning out away from my body to get the far side).

If if I was smart; I would have had the hardwood guys use their sanders last week on it!!

Im trying to avoid purchasing new tools at this point to leave money for other parts of the build.

I guess my main question is if a hand plane (not the powered one) would take out any high spots, or do I need heavier duty tools? Or, should I leave well enough alone and make more coasters with my scrap wood?!

[Steve Jenkins]

If you have the skills a hand plane will work. Other options are find a local cabinet shop with a wide belt sander( nominal fee), or make a bridge for you router if you have one

[Andrew Wayland]

The bridge is possible; but may be difficult to build with the size of the project.

I may try the hand plane.... just to see if I can't minimize the waves. I played on a small area last night with the blade retracted pretty far; but all of this talks about being "skilled" with it seems nerve wracking too!

[Steve Demuth]

"Hand plane" is a pretty broad category. I'm guessing that you've got something like a #4 or #5 or maybe #6 jack, but you don't say, and the degree of difficulty in planing down to adequate flatness does depend on the size of tool you're going to use.

So assuming you've got some sort of jack plane suitable for taking off a lot of material, the next most important thing is to go about this problem systematically. Take several looks at this video to get a good idea of how you want to go about this. Pretty much everything he says is spot on for the problem you have.

If you find that too intimidating, then I'd strongly suggest you try to find a local shop with a wide drum sander. Won't cost much, and you'll get a dead flat bar top.

[Andrew Wayland]

Helpful video. Thanks!

I honestly don't even know what type of plane I have. (I'm really new to this all), but I imagine any plane will do the trick with enough effort.

The drum sander is a decent idea and all: but finding a shop here may be difficult. Also; the size of the piece would be difficult to transport to a shop without renting a van (added cost).

Ill try my luck with a plane and see where I get. I guess if worse comes to worse I can use a self leveling epoxy bar finish?

[Al Bacon]

Andrew
Take a look at this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtkBZHLJyD0

This may be more possible for what your trying to do.

[Prashun Patel]

your best bet for flat is a hand plane. However, there is a learning curve, and your first experience might be frustrating. In fact, unless you have a well-tuned plane, and are facile at sharpening, and can read the grain of your wood, and have glued up the boards with respect to the grain direction, you risk creating more problems than you'll solve.

So, YOU'RE best bet, IMHO is to stick with the belt sander. Here's what I'd do. Get a 150grit belt. Scribble the entire surface with pencil, or even a light dye. Something that will mark the entire surface, but will not gum up the belt as you subsequently sand it off. Sweep the whole surface with your belt sander, taking care to keep it perfectly level. Be quick and swift and don't stay on one area long; move across the whole surface quickly. When you've removed most of the marks, you'll have identified your low spots.

Next, (again keeping the belt sander level) work in broad circles (12-16") around the low spot, move in a spiral towards the low spot, then spiral out again.

You'll be surprised that these undulations can be made to disappear if you feather out the valleys.

Last, when you finish - consider using a satin sheen. Gloss will highlight your imperfections. Satin is like Spanx.

[Karl Andersson]

If you don't have good hand plane skills- or confidence- you could rent a floor sander (drum or plate style) from Home Depot or a rental place and sand it with that- if the bar top isn't mounted yet and you can put it on the floor. The plate style is pretty foolproof but slower than the drum style- but you have to be much more careful with the drum sander; I'd only use about 150 grit and just go slowly. Of course I'm laying an unfinished hardwood floor right now, so it seems like the perfect solution...

OR you just get a bunch of leather coasters that conform to the unevenness

[Andrew Wayland]

So I ended up using a 9inch hand plane to take out a bulk of the variation. Then I caved and bought a 6in random orbital sander (something I'm sure I'll use down the road): it did a very good job of leveling things out without getting too aggressive.

My belt sander is only 3x18 and doesn't have variable speed: So instead of ponying up the cash for a new belt sander I think the orbital was a better investment.

Its not perfect: but much much better than before!

I'm wondering: when it comes to the finish: can I start with Gloss, and finish with a satin if the imperfections are too obvious?

[Prashun Patel]

Yes you can do that (satin over gloss base coats) In fact many people recommend doing exactly that

[Andrew Wayland]

Perfect! Fingers crossed that the gloss looks good!

With the satin over gloss: do you lose clarity of the wood grain? (I'll be using Arm R Seal as discussed in another threads).