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Is there any way to get t/b/s's to final thickness without a drum sander? Some ideas I had were.
1. Plane
and
2. A flat surface with 120 grit glued on just rub it back and forth until thickness.

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-They made me do this-
My name is Matthew Luce

1 - yes. Read the cumpiano book
2 - theoretically yes, but results would probably disappoint you, assuming you survive that long trying.

or
3 - Don't buy a kit from LMI. Just pay them the small fee to join and thickness the back/top/sides. That's what I did on my first couple.


good luck

I think Bob and others will sand to very close or to final when buy from them for a small extr charge. Plane and Wagner as said will work. I contacted a shop in town lived in before had sander and rented time on his machine. He is or was a fiddle maker. If not try school shops or cabinet shops. If can't find one and can't get a sander, send it to me I will take it down for you and send it back.

Before my thickness sander I worked up quite a sweat getting to final thickness. I used a thickness planer to get to .130, then hand held belt sander w 80 grit to get to .100 - 0.105. (Do this outdoors. It is dusty. Wear a dust mast, googles and ear protection.) Then marking the plate/rib with pencil crosses a random orbital sander with 120, 180 nnd finqalyy 220 grits. I initially used a caliper but then made a thickness gauge as seen on many luthiers sites and forum threads. The pieces were workable but i know there were ticker and thinner areas. My hat is off to builders not using power tools. I am now blessed with a thickness sander. It takes a week of hard work off a project. I get high watching stock go in one end and out the other. If there really is reincarnation I want to come back as a thickness sander. It gives me joy. I think I appreciate it all the more for the hours of DUSTY work I had been doing.

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Greg
http://garibaldiinstruments.com/

A saf-t-planer followed by a nice sharp cabinet scraper for the b&s. A decent hand plane (a 4 1/2 is my favorite!) will work wonders on spruce.
-j.

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“If God dwells inside us like some people say, I sure hope He likes enchiladas, because that's what He's getting”
-jack handy

Hi fiddlernut,
I am sure this isn't the smartest or most accurate way to do this but I used a small surform ( google it to see what I am talking about) on the top back and sides to get em all to the about right thickness. It was a lot of work but I felt more comfortable using that than i did using the toothed plane blade i had made. I used it pretty much the same way as you would a toothed plane, and after I had the T B & S to about the right thickness I used an orbital sander to remove all the marks left from the surform.
I know that it probably isn't recommended but its all I had available! and I was quite happy with how it turned out in the end.

but I feel since its my first build I should have to do stuff the manual way, it'll just make me appreciate whatever drum sander may come my way some day

Matt

ahh so I guess it is actually called a pocket surform, to be more exact

Matt