Thread: Drum Sander or Thicknesser?

'Day gang. Think this is my first post here. So how do ya's do and pleased to meet ya's.

Tearout. Is that like divot shaped scooped out shallow concave holes? That's what I got on my ebony fretboard from the GMC thicknesser. I thought perhaps I'd hit it a bit hard, and tried to gradually plane it out, but it just kept scooping.

That was a really brittle ebony, which I was able to smooth out with the Safe-T-Planer. It's done nicely on other woods though. Both hard and soft woods. Don't think I'd trust it on thin instrument wood.

I'm a very inexperienced wood worker working on my third ukulele. A blackwood soprano uke. The first two were ratshit. I know I can do better, so I'm still at it. That sound familiar?

I'd like a drum sander. The Jet 10/20 would be grouse, but if I stick to ukes I won't need it. I don't have an awful lot of elbow grease to spare but I prefer hand tools in general.

Cheers Hip.

Originally Posted by Hippety Hop

Tearout. Is that like divot shaped scooped out shallow concave holes? That's what I got on my ebony fretboard from the GMC thicknesser. I thought perhaps I'd hit it a bit hard, and tried to gradually plane it out, but it just kept scooping.

Yup, that it! Happens to thicknessers and hand planes. Its where the slicing action of the cutter is forced against some obtruce grain and it "tears out" instrad of cutting. Sometimes, but not often enough to be reliable, you can plane in the opposite direction, but if its figured wood then you're screwed three ways from sunday. If I have tearout (I have neither drum sander nor thicknesser) I chuck the plane and move to the sandpaper and cabinet scrapers. The only way that this works is if you can bandsaw the pice as close as possible to the correct thickness first.

You have to remember that the grain of timber is 3 dimentional, you may have a beautiful quater sawn piece of timber, but the grain down the length could well skew outwards and you can find yourself tearing out on this seemingly perfect piece of wood.

God I think I butchered that, oh well, dock my pay...

well described, mongrel.
See, all that coffee does you good