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I have a top and back that are 0.14" and I need to sand them to thickness. The tools I have are:
A Harbor Freight sanding station
A 1/4 sheet finish sander
Several hand planes

What are my options for how to get the top and back pieces to a proper thickness?

find a cabinet shop in your area and pay to have them thickness sand it for you
If you do this by hand scrapers , and hand planes and sanding. You may be at this all day till you get it.

Randy, sharpen up that hand plane and go at it. Take care with direction of the grain and you will be amazed at how fast you can take it down by .020 or .030".

You might consider this gadget:
http://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools/Ty ... laner.html though if you don't have a drill pres it won't help much.

Kevin Sjostrand wrote:Randy, sharpen up that hand plane and go at it. Take care with direction of the grain and you will be amazed at how fast you can take it down by .020 or .030".

I second that. The Cumpiano book has an excellent write-up on how to use hand planes to thickness tops and backs.


Most even grained wood, like most rosewood, walnut, or such, can be hand planed. But if you have stuff like curly maple or less "organized" rosewood, you'd probably be better off taking John's advice and having a cabinet company do it. If it's rosewood, they'll probably ask you to pay for their sandpaper, too, as rosewood can be oily and make short work of their sandpaper.

Solution: Find a friend who has just rebuilt her drum sander and wants to try it out. (Thanks Kathy!)