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Hello all, I dont have a thickness sander and I need to thin out a back/sides set that I recently purchased. How else can I get the job done? -Alex

I used a belt sander when I first got going. It make a heck of a mess, I did it outside. You can burn right threw it if your not careful. Stop and measure alot. I got it close, then used an orbital sander after that to smooth it out.

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Jason Moe
LaCrosse WI 54601

Thanks for the advice. Im going to try my hand with a planer fir-Alexst. Will a block plane do (I have one or two of these) or should I split on a full sized bench plane?

As an occasional uke builder I don't run to a drum sander, so I thickness my tops with a block plane fitted with a toothed blade, and use a cabinet scraper to finish off. Takes me about 20 mins for a soprano uke top. So this would also work for a guitar top if you're prepared to put the time in. Cross-grain planing is fine with the toothed blade, so you can just clamp one edge and plane away on yhe other half. I also bought a scraper plane from eBay for about £30 (under $50 US) which is very controllable, but slow.

I tried the hand-held belt sander, but it's scarily uncontrollable. I'd rather spend the time and end up with my wood in one piece!

There is a inexpensive jig in the GAL using 2 alum L brackets as a guide and a 2 by 2 sheet of mdf to cut down a 5mm or 3/16in glued back or top .Router rides on the L brackets.Works, clean up with ros sander

What Todd said. Get the Cumpiano book (great reference for everything else too), a well tuned #5 smoothing plane and a good sharpening system. You want split-a-frog-hair-three-ways scary sharp. If you do the waterstone or lapping plate route get a good quality honing guide. I like the new one from Veritas. It's about $60 or so but well worth it. http://www.veritastools.com/products/Page.aspx?p=144.