Smoothing very thin (1-2mm) thick wood

[jimi43]

its a bit more work, but Pete Howlett (ukelele maker) showed me his version of a thickness sander...shop made.

like this (but not this one)

http://www.boydguitarworks.com/thickness.html

The finish was excellent, and incredibly precise tolerances. The one shown needs an extraction hood though..they make an awesome amount of fine dust.

That is ideal for backs and fronts...I have been using a toothing plane but this could solve the problems for the final thicknessing...

Thanks for posting that mate...very helpful indeed!

Jim

 

[iori]

certainly, double sided tape can be a pain if your piece of thin wood is already cut to size, so cut it a bit over and stick your d/s on the waste.
start your planing beyond the d/s and use 'skis' of wood or brass shim (d/s tape again ) to thickness. you do of course have to have a perfectly flat base to your plane and ditto for the surface you're planing on. you do not say what thickness you are after, if they are very thin you will need to measure the thickness of the tape and recess your planing board at the point where you're going to stick it down. i used to make museum quality miniatures and i've taken veneer down to 10thou. this way.

 

[chipworker]

An old pattern maker I used to know had this trick. You need a very smooth beech or oak board, a very sharp and finely set smoothing plane, some soap and some chalk dust. You scatter dust on the board and rub the soap on your plane's sole, then when you lay the veneer on the dust the friction of the chalk holds the veneer still while your super lubricated plane glides over it.

 

[cjp]

@tenkno.mage

...My partner and I are now in the the process of building a mini drum sander/ thicknesser...

You must let us know how that goes, the commercial machines seem so expensive. And yet it feels so feasible to make yourself! You've probably already seen this link: http://www.rockslide.org/drum%20sander.html - if not hope helps.

Cheers,

Charlie