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How Do I remove Divots and Milling marks on These (HICKORY) chair legs?

1778 Views 15 Replies 10 Participants Last post by dalepage, Mar 28, 2016

PPK

Discussion Starter · Mar 21, 2016 (Edited by Moderator)

2

Hi all,

Chair Wood Floor Flooring Hardwood

I have cut out a set of rear chair legs/backs. (the tall parts on the right are what I'm referring to) I used a template and a top bearing template bit in my router table to trim to them to size and get them all symmetrical. It turned out fairly well, except there are a few areas that I ended up with little divots and milling marks when I tipped the work peice a little too much, or the bearing slipped off the template. How should I go about getting rid of these, without scrapping my nice, expensive, 8/4 hickory? Yeah, that's right, its Hickory. I'm a glutton for punishment…
Hand plane? I don't have a decent one. A couple of the marks are 3/32 deep, but most are about 1/16 or less.

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MadMark

· #2 · Mar 21, 2016

Re run them, 2nd pass is cleanup.

joey502

· #3 · Mar 21, 2016

If your part rocked when cutting and it took too much material - sand or scrape to blend the mistake. You could take a little off of your template and make the cuts again.

Last thing i could think would be to cut a small piece out and glue in a color matching patch. That way you could run the parts again to trim the patch flush.

OSU55

· #4 · Mar 21, 2016

Or you could use this as an excuse to get into handplanes. A Stanley 12-960 (modern 60-1/2) tuned up would do it. Actually, a properly tuned spokeshave could do it as well. A card or other type scraper, if you have the tools to sharpen and turn a hook. A chisel could be used to help blend in to the surface. The quickest and easiest path for you, if you don't have any of these hand tools, is as suggested - blend in with sandpaper or trim your template and run again. Some could be filled - test to make sure your finish schedule covers them up properly.

PPK

Discussion Starter · #5 · Mar 21, 2016

I do own a small cheapo stanley block plane that I recently sharpened up pretty well. My other plane (millers Falls 22" jointer) probably won't work though. I been trying to warm up wife to the idea of a Veritas bevel up smoother plane, but she's still in shock after the recent 14" bandsaw purchase. Filling isn't really an option - I'm clear coating it, and hickory is terrible to grain match. Here's what I'll do: try my hand at the planes, and then re-template rout if that fails! I did make them 1 1/2" x 1 5/8", so If I re-routed them, I could still have them 1 1/2" square.

OSU55

· #6 · Mar 21, 2016 (Edited by Moderator)

With hickory pay attention to grain direction. You want at least a 50° cut angle for the plane. 12° bed, 38° bevel, 20° bed, 30° bevel, to help prevent tear out. Thin, thin shavings. Blade needs to be surgically sharp, otherwise you risk tear out. Practice with it on some cut offs.

She might warm up to a Stanley #4 for ~$25-$40 and a #80 cabinet scraper for ~$20. Those will get the job done, just not as nicely as the BU smoother. See my blog for how to tune them up.

chiseler

· #7 · Mar 21, 2016 (Edited by Moderator)

I would do as MadMark says.Offset your template a bit and rerun it with the router,taking a climb cut first(running the router backwards)the forward slowly should clean up most of it,then follow up with a good sharp card scraper or a stanely/kunz #80 cabinet scraper

Kazooman

· #8 · Mar 21, 2016

The suggestions for fixing the problem are all good. I would like to add a suggestion to think back over the process of machining the pieces to prevent the problem in the future. A "divot" that is 1/16" deep sounds more like a gouge to me. Your description suggests that you were trying to hand hold a piece that did not have a flat face to reference the router table in the proper upright orientation as you passed it through the router bit. Probably not going to happen very often.

I am assuming that these pieces have curves on both faces and this is the source of your problem. If one face were square, you should have no problem with either tipping the piece or the bearing slipping off the template. For pieces that are curved in multiple directions a router template may not be the best choice. Cutting one curve on the bandsaw and then reattaching the waste piece before cutting the second curve is the typical solution. Without seeing exactly what you are trying to achieve it is difficult to tell what went wrong.

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chiseler

· #9 · Mar 21, 2016

If you made it with router and template you can fix it with router and template

chiseler

· #10 · Mar 21, 2016

I do own a small cheapo stanley block plane that I recently sharpened up pretty well. My other plane (millers Falls 22" jointer) probably won t work though. I been trying to warm up wife to the idea of a Veritas bevel up smoother plane, but she s still in shock after the recent 14" bandsaw purchase. Filling isn t really an option - I m clear coating it, and hickory is terrible to grain match. Here s what I ll do: try my hand at the planes, and then re-template rout if that fails! I did make them 1 1/2" x 1 5/8", so If I re-routed them, I could still have them 1 1/2" square.

- PPK

sounds like a plan

PPK

Discussion Starter · #11 · Mar 21, 2016

Sweet, thanks guys for all the help. There are rounded, quite square; I'm going for "mission" style. Just when I did the first couple legs, it was a learning curve, and i didn't keep them pressed flat against the router table. A couple seemed to be just a tad twisted after cutting them out, causing them to want to tip into the bit. I did climb cut them, then final pass "against" the bit. However, hickory's so hard it can pretty easily catch on that bit and dig in fast…

a1Jim

· #12 · Mar 21, 2016

Think about a card scraper

jakhtar

· #13 · Mar 21, 2016

Think about a card scraper

- a1Jim

Jim's right. Get yourself a card scraper and learn how to sharpen it and turn a hook on it. I barely need to sand after scraping, and even if I do, it's by hand at 220 grit.

rwe2156

· #14 · Mar 22, 2016

You got in trouble with the router so I wouldn't go back to it just to fix a little thing like this.

Any tool that can blend it will work: file and/or card scraper and/or sand paper.

PPK

Discussion Starter · #15 · Mar 28, 2016

2

Plane Rebate plane Hand tool Wood Block plane

Thanks for the help, guys. I think it was the thought of those marks festering in my mind that was the worst. I got a few minutes to work on them again this weekend, and got them all smoothed up very nicely. I ended up using my jointer plane, small block plane, spoke shave for the inside curve, and a card scraper to get rid of any marks on curly grain areas. I only lost 1/16" of thickness at the very worst spots. Hand planes are fun when they are sharp & work well!!

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dalepage

· #16 · Mar 28, 2016

I would run them through my drum sander.

Also for curves, you can get some adhesive sandpaper (comes in rolls) and use thin plywood to make a flexible sanding "block." Glue a piece of wood to each end, put the chair part in a vise, and sand it in the same motion as if you were planing it.

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