Good Sander For Getting Scales Nice and Flat

redsquid2

redsquid2

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Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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I have a 2X42 sander, and an old Bosch industrial hand-held belt sander. Both present challenges, when it comes to flattening out a piece of wood that is only 5" X 1 1/2" X 1/4". So far lapping by hand has got me better results, but all of these ways seem slow.

I am looking for recommendations on a better way. Thank you.
 
What Josh said. If I need something flat, I hit it with the disc, then lap it on a plate. Disc gets you much closer than any belt. With practice you may get flat enough right off the disc, but it's hard because of the different surface speeds and hand pressure.
 
Agreed, disc. However, use a light pressure. If you push too hard you will flex the material slightly and end up chasing your tail correcting things. Keep a sheet of glass or a surface plate handy to check flatness. If you place the ground side of the scale on the surface and feel a slight suction when you try to pick it back up, it's pretty flat.
 
I've found that the most effective way of flattening out handle material is on the mill, mostly with a face mill. Then a quick lap on the surface plate by hand. It's a very quick process.
 
Whatever way you get it flattened, the final step is lapping on a flat plate with sandpaper on the plate. A granite surface plte is great, but a piece of 1/4" plate glass works fine, too. Where people go wrong in lapping is by pushing the wood back and forth. This will make the ends slightly curved upward,and the piece will not be flat. Instead, used a figure-8 motion. This evenly abrades the entire surface and will make it flat. I like 100 grit for lapping. It doesn't need to be any smoother for gluing.
 
I too use a disk grinder. I frequently turn the piece around and it helps keep the uneveness from getting out of the scope of flat plate sanding.
 
As others have mentioned, not matter what machine you use end by lapping the material
 
To get scales flat and square and the exact same thickness I use a Grizzly G0716 drum sander. Hand lapping and disk grinders get your scales flat and I used them for years but have found the drum sander to be very quick and accurate at getting the surfaces flat and parallel.
 
A fly cutter of shell mill on a mill makes scales nice and flat.
 
I bought a router bit to run in my mini mill to remove material and flatten.
It worked great.
 
Last edited:
currenthill said:
I've found that the most effective way of flattening out handle material is on the mill, mostly with a face mill. Then a quick lap on the surface plate by hand. It's a very quick process.
Click to expand...

That sounds trick - how do you clamp the scales to the mill table? Vise?

If I can figure out fastening to table, I'll try that. I've been just running them thru a table saw, then lapping on sandpaper/granite.
 
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