Woodworking

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Best way to flatten a piece? (lemmy.dbzer0.com)

submitted 6 days ago by [email protected] to c/woodworking

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Can anyone tell me how can I flatten a Minecraft heart please? I've put this together:

https://www.instructables.com/MineCraft-Heart-wood/

but I've noticed that it bows slightly. I've managed to get the ends to raise slightly when I've screwed it together. The top needs to be smoothed too, as there are some small differences between the pieces. Both sides are only off by a millimetre or two, but it's enough to be noticeable.

My thinking is to clamp it down at the centre, which seems to be mostly flat on both sides, then sand the top until it's level, then flip it over and clamp the edges to smooth the bottom.

Are there any likely problems with doing it this way, or is there a better way of doing it? Thanks in advance :)

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I'd glue or tape a sheet of sandpaper, larger than the workpiece to a hard flat surface and rub the piece on it.

This is the sort of answer I'm looking for, thank you. I wouldn't have thought of sticking sandpaper down, and it definitely sounds easier :)

I do own a plane, but I haven't used one since I was in school about 30 years ago, and that was already set up. I might have to save that for after I've had a chance to practice first :)

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 days ago

No bother.

Yes planing does take a bit of experience - not as much as you'd think though to start getting decent results. It mainly has to be sharpened regularly and set up right and you need to know how to adjust the cut depth.

There are lots of youtubes on sharpening and setup if you want to get into that. I watch Paul Sellers mostly, there's plenty of others though.

And certainly practice on a few different wood types, before using a hand plane (or any new tool) on anything you've already put time into.