www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk

I'm fairly new to this and I am on a limited budget but I need to be able to make some planks of wood equal lengths and for a lot of them it is more a case of grindign them down a bit to even them off.

My question is which tool would be best ? I have thought of a disc sander, would a belt sander do the job or would I need a grinder ?

heeelllooo and welcome asharon


realy depends on exactly what you have to do!!!

are your planks around 120mm or narower!!!

are they thicker than say 10mm!!!

are you trying to remove more or less than 2mm!!!

a miter saw sound your best bet unless i am misunderstanding your needs

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I am buying a mitre saw, but what I wanted to know was would a belt sander actually remove some of the wood or does it just sand them. I bought a sander that takes sheets and I found it very poor, obviously for simple sanding it was ok, but I am looking for something that would actually take the wood down a bit to even it out without needing to change the sheet so to speak.

sheet sander are sutable for removal of small amounts to even out surfaces or end grain up to around 1mm with coarse paper around 60 grit

belt sander will remove it 10 or 20 times quicker but can ruin work very quickly if not held properly

can you please tell us exactly what your making so we can suggest the correct tools and possibly a few shortcuts to get a good finnish

A belt sander is quite aggresive with say a 40grit belt, and will happily remove a few mm from the end of a plank.
If they are quite small, that might not be the best answer, its quite easy to make the ends uneven or out of square with a hand held belt sander.

Could you not find the shortest plank, then cut them all to that length with a good sharp saw?

Thanks for the replies.

I am going to be building a chicken house and thinking about it I can use the compound saw to make them an even lenght, I'm not decided upon which one although I am leaning towards either the Ryobi Ems-2026Scl or the Draper 250Mm Sliding Compound Mitre Saw, unless anyone has any ideas. The problem I have is with making the roof I haven't been able to cut a perfectly straight line with any saw I have and some advice as to the best tool to be able to cut it close and then level it off would be aprpeciated.

One tip I use to cut a straight line is to:
mark all the four sides
use the full length of the saw
stand over the cut, not to one side
and take it easy with a good sharp saw.

I was taught this at school in the '50's and applies to metal as well as wood.


John

i would go for the ryobi better reputation for quality

you should make the roof out of 12mm exterior ply

in fact most chicken house plans i have seen [and made]have been out off ply but i am talking small at around 1 to 2 meter cube with a run attached

If you place the blade of the saw flat across the wood you can use the handle as a square

Thanks for the replies that's given me something to think about. :)