Thread: Flattening Table top

Hope you didn't "find" any extra nails with a freshly-sharpened blade! Well done, and good to show the 'lecktrickery blokes that the good old cornflakes-powered machinery is still relevant.

I don't fancy their chances of getting anything like that door truly flat with an orbital sander, however long they kept at it! I once watched a fellow "flattening" tops of glued-up Baltic Pine with a belt sander. They were about half the size of that door, or maybe a bit more, and he spent at least 4 hours on each, working through multiple belts & a few grit sizes. When pronounced "finished", they looked more like a relief map of west Yorkshire than a table top. I casually asked why he didn't use a plane or two? "Nah, too slow, mate", was the reply.

To each his own.....
Cheers,

Well done. I notice there was a level there somewhere in the picture. Do you use that to measure the flatness of your door? It looks pretty flat, and with characters too. It's satisfying to have job well done.

Hi Ian,

hahahah oh no!! I went around the door so many times make sure all the nails were well seated! Thank you! The hand plane is still very relevant. My friend and his dad kept watching me and made me feel like I was doing black magic to the door. I had to explain to them how a hand plane works and why I had so many haha.

Love the story. Everyone has different interpretations of 'character' and if that does it for him, then that is fine! haha

My friend's dad wanted to convince his wife to let him put the door table top in the living room so he had to call the big guns (me). Otherwise as you describe a relief map of west Yorkshire may not have cut it

Thank you again for your chip breaker tips!! 45 frog with the LNs was smooooooooooth

Regards,

Bernard

Hi Justonething,

Thank you! Yep I used a level as a straight edge occasionally. I found that using the side of the #7 did the trick too. I couldn't really use the spirit bubble for anything because the ground that the saw horses were on were not level at all. Also I don't think I made the saw horses in pairs too so they may not have been level haha.

Before I worked on it, the timber was 'pretty' flat but between there were some obvious high spots between laminated pieces of timber. I just did my best to flatten it out so that it can be used as a dining room table.

Yep fun fun fun!

Regards,

Bernard Zhang