Thread: sanding inside the box

Bobbin sanders work well for this

Good question; Being a novice to this aspect too, I have a similar one.
How would you best sand right into the corners on the inside of the box?
Thought of using a Dremel with the sanding drum attachment but that would go against the grain [in a few ways].
Sanding with paper along the inside of the corners sands against the grain as well, so am hoping to learn how this should be done.
Thanks for any ideas

As the Gifkin instructions say, sand the inside before assembly and if you are using dovetails don't take too much off or you will end up with loose joints.
Regards

???

Are you talking about sanding the inside of a bandsawn box (which this particular sub-forum's about) or a more normal "square" box?

Bandsawn, it's easiest to sand all surfaces (maybe with the exception of glue faces) before assembly, then take great care during glue up to minimise the need for "clean up." As Jim said, a bobbin sander is good for this.

My apologies, I only looked at the heading and not the sub forum.
Regards

I have Not tried this yet, a buddy in a wood carving forum takes a old rechargeable toothbrush, cuts the 'brush part off the toothbrush attachments, shapes the stem as he see's fit, and places self stick pieces of sandpaper onto the stem, again, not tried by me.

As Jim said a spindle sander would be the best. Other alternatives are the smaller sanding drums used in a drill press, hand drill or lathe. The electric toothbrush idea has merit although perhaps a little slow. The older alternative with a little more grunt would be an electric carving knife with the blades either replaced or ground down blunt.

For the inside of the individual drawers I am a little lazy (or perhaps wise) and use a rasp, then file and then sanding drums to get a smooth flowing surface (but not perfectly free of scratches) and then use flocking powder. Whilst the flocking will not cover a really poor job, it does offer enough coverage that you get no real benefit from sanding to 400g before application.

For the inside of the box I do a similar method to the drawers (before the back is glued on). Again I don't get too carried away but I do put more effort into the areas near the front of the box which is more visible when the drawers are open or removed.

At the end of the day however I am just waiting to sell enough boxes to cover the purchase of an ossolating spindle sander as this is ideal.

For mine the only sanding required "inside" a bandsawn box is the drawer cavity, and then it is only to smooth the blade marks. To suggest it is necessary to sand inside the cabinet, in my view is wrong; all that is doing is increasing the size of the cabinet and making the drawers flop about more. If there are excessive bandsaw blade marks evident, then the blade is not properly installed.

If you do not have a spindle sander there are two options, (1) wrap sand paper around a length of dowel, use masking tape to secure it in place making sure it is in the right direction and place it between the lathe centres. (2) wrap sand paper around a length of dowel and use as a hand held sanding block.

My preference is to use the velcro backed sand paper, so a single dowel can be used for a number of different grades of paper. I also use a flat stick, with the velcro, to get into the tight corners.


bytheway, my re-vamped web site is now live, it has a number of new designs bandsawn boxes, together with an extensive library of other bandsawn boxes, including the work of other bandsawn from around the box making world. Enjoy!