So I joined the cherry, and then the cedar. both went well. next I planed and sanded some walnut that I plan to join with a zigzag strip sandwiched in the middle. that went well too. but when I got to my fourth plate, I had trouble sanding. I think my plywood-aluminum setup failed when I had the aluminum clamped on both ends, and it perhaps flexed in the middle, due to me pressing into it?
I stole this idea from Ken Cierp. I went to Lowe's yesterday and got a piece of MDF for $7. (I love lowe's because I'll get them to cut stuff up for me). they cut it in half and ripped a 2" strip off one side. i used spray adhesive on a cut-up sanding belt, and screwed the 2" strip to the factory edge of the MDF. it worked well!
