Sanding Stick for Stew=Mac Dread

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hhyatt@chartertn.net
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Mar 04, 2013 2:13 am

Sanding Stick for Stew=Mac Dread

Post by hhyatt@chartertn.net »

I've reached the point where I need to sand the kerfed braces on the guitar top and bottom. The instructions tell me to construct a "sanding stick" to sand the kerfed braces to the proper angles at the top and bottom. They ask me to glue a 1.5 degree wedge on one side of the stick and a 5 degree wedge on the other. What is the best way to saw these? I have a table saw and a band saw, but I can't find a way to do it and be confident that I have the correct angles. Suggestions would be appreciated, including the possibility of buying them from some source.

Thanks,
Harold Hyatt
justrfb
Posts: 217
Joined: Wed Aug 22, 2012 8:17 am
Location: North Jersey

Re: Sanding Stick for Stew=Mac Dread

Post by justrfb »

Hello Harold.
I "traced" the front and back braces onto a long 2 X 2 piece of wood to make my sanding stick/glue cauls. It seemed to work well. I am not sure the best way to get the exact angle except for maybe tracing a 1 1/2 and 5 degree line on over sized pieces of wood and rough cutting them with your band saw then sand to the line. Then cut these into workable sanding tools. Good luck!

Sincerely,
Rich
buddy225
Posts: 35
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2012 2:06 pm
Location: Southeastern, PA

Re: Sanding Stick for Stew=Mac Dread

Post by buddy225 »

I did the same as Rich. I traced radius of the front and back braces on to a 2 x 4 and cut out the profile with a band saw. I'm just getting ready to attach the back and top so I hope it worked!
Mitch
Posts: 64
Joined: Wed Dec 26, 2012 1:10 pm

Re: Sanding Stick for Stew=Mac Dread

Post by Mitch »

I cut the wedge from a 10" piece of 2x4 using a "table saw taper jig". My saw couldn't cut all the way through, so I cut about 1" deep on both edges then finished with a hand saw. Cleaned it up with a block plane.

Google "table saw taper jig" and you'll see lots of home made and inexpensive commercial designs. I used a commercial design similar to this that had graduations to set the angle.

I just finished sanding the top rim, and the resultant angle was just about 1.5 degrees.

If you make your own jig, you can easily draw the angle on paper using a bit of trig.

Mitch
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