Flattening an end grain cutting board.

[Travis Kriza]

Before I got the 16/32, I used a small 3x18 belt sander. It was messy, loud, time-consuming, and a general pain in the butt, followed by a ton of ROS work to clean up the scratches, but I did 6 boards last Christmas this way. In the end, I don't think they were as perfectly flat as I'd like, and I never got rid of the deepest scratches.

Got any friends nearby with a drum sander? If you were near me I certainly wouldn't mind you hopping over to use it.

If I were to do end-grain boards again WITHOUT my drum sander, I'd definitely look into a router flattening sled thingamajig. It always seemed like a pain to build (and it's not that complicated!), but the results over a belt sander would be worth it.

That's how I flattened the majority of mine. It was my first plane usage so it wasn't the smoothest (used a sander to clean up the result) but it worked a lot better than just using a handheld belt sander.

[Dan Hahr]

Handplane. Low angle is better but not that big of a deal. Just make sure it is sharp. None of the handheld sanders will give you as flat a surface.

I've only done a few, but the process is suprisingly easier than I thought.
Dan

[keith micinski]

An even cheaper and easier method of router sled if you dont need one very often and dont want to have to store it is to double stick tape the piece to your work bench and then cut two rails 1/2 an inch or so over size and double stick them down. Then attach a piece of scrap plywood or any other scrap you have to the bottom of your router that will span the two rails. I probably use double stick tape for to much stuff but that is also how I attach the piece of plywood to the router anymore so that I don't have to mess around with drilling holes and lining things up. Then flip the piece over raise your router bit a hair and repeat. When yoru all done you have a flat piece and all it cost was some double stick tape and you don't have to store a sled if you don't have room.

[John T Barker]

My reply is more appropriate for neanderthal land but a low-angle jack plane with a sharp blade would make short work of an end-grain cutting board! I would most definitely go this route before using a belt or ROS sander.

One of the Stanley planes (sorry, no memory for things like that) was designed for that purpose. Along with the idea of a router method an overarm router would do the job well. There were purpose made overarms as well as holders for regular routers. ShopNotes probably has a plan for making one...watch thine hands!

Didn't someone make a drill press planer thingy? Again, watch the hands.

John

[Charlton Wang]

Router sled works though it still tends to need a bit of cleanup with either a scraper or a handplane. I did that for two of my boards but after that, I actually found that doing it by handplane is probably actually the fastest. I use a toothed blade in a #5 and then do a cleanup pass with the a normal blade in the #5. A tiny bit of scraping and it's pretty much a done deal.

[Bruno Frontera dela Cruz]

I have had good luck with a cheap hand held belt sander turning coarse grit paper...and that was on Brazilian cherry! It took a while but it ended up smooth as glass.

[Mark Ashmeade]

I built a few using my grandfather's old Bosch PBS 75 belt sander. Id did the job, but was slow, messy and generally unpleasant in every respect.

I then worked out how many boards I'd have to make and sell to justify a drum sander. It wasn't too bad, something I could do in a year or so. Thus I ordered a drum sander in late October, and churned out a few before Christmas. I ended up giving them away as gifts, but that's as good as a sale in my book.

I revisited a relative over Christmas who had one of the belt-sanded ones. I was appalled with the finish I had said was "good enough". I took it back, ran it through the drum sander, and re oiled it. It took longer to change grit on the sander than to do the job.

So if you can, I'd say look at the drum sander option again.

[Brian Kincaid]

Good hand-held belt sander, invest in good belts 3M purple or equivalent. Is useful for other projects too and doesn't take up much room.
-Brian

[Mike O'Reilly]

I have had the same issue and used a ROS and scraper for the final work. Took some time and patience but turned out great.

Mike

[George Beck]

I have done this before on cutting boards (end grain). Technically a low angle BU jack plane is a block plane and block planes were used for flattening butcher blocks. I used a toothing blade at diagonals to level the board (both sides), then set a very sharp blade for a fine cut just to remove the ridges left by the toothing blade. Check often with a straight edge. Once flat and reasonably smooth, hit it with a random orbit sander to remove any marks. It is not a job I enjoy but I had a job to make a 24 x 30 end grain board and it's the method that worked for me. I don't have a 24" wide belt sander.

George

[Ole Anderson]

First rule of woodworking: Every project deserves a new tool, some big, some small!

[David Hostetler]

Okay, so I have a reasonable choice of standard angle bench planes, #4 through #7, so any tips on technique? I have never thought of planing cross grain like that...

A router sled might just be what the doctor ordered in this case....

Dumb thought... Has anyone ever tried to build a "sander sled"? Not sure how it would be rigged, but some kind of jig to hold up a belt sander, at varying depths to use for flattening large stock... Just thinking out loud as it were...

[Neil Brooks]

Has anyone ever tried to build a "sander sled"? Not sure how it would be rigged, but some kind of jig to hold up a belt sander, at varying depths to use for flattening large stock...

Wow. I started thinking about that, and got a headache, just behind my left eye

You KNOW somebody's done it, and will chime in, but ... man-oh-man ... I'd have to put that one pretty low on MY list of "git' 'er done" options for this particular issue

Mail me the thing. I'll run it through the open-ended 16/32, and mail it back :-p

[Kurt Cady]

Handplane. Low angle is better but not that big of a deal. Just make sure it is sharp. None of the handheld sanders will give you as flat a surface.

I've only done a few, but the process is suprisingly easier than I thought.
Dan

How long did it take you to flatten using a LA block?