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#1
10-25-2014, 04:11 PM
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Sanding kerf
Hello. My first post…
I am building my first guitar and have glued the kerf to the sides. It is a bit proud per oodles of instruction and soon I will be sanding them. I do not have radius dishes and don’t see myself buying them unless I really get deeper into this therapy. So, I intend to create a sanding block (well, more of a board) that I saw on YT. It has a 1.5deg angled block on one side and a 5deg block on the flip side. One side for the top, the other for the back. The technique is to place the board across the body and and sand with short side-by-side strokes directly across, then rotate around the guitar. I will mount a post in the middle, drill a whole to slide the board over to keep the rotation centered. My questions are, the slight angle of the kerf, heel block, and tail block down to the sides is to ease the joint or mating of the back to the sides (and top to the sides) – correct? Is this degree measurement critical? Does 1.5 and 5 sound about right? Thanks. 
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#2
10-25-2014, 04:36 PM
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Depending upon how you choose to make it, the guitar back is usually arched across its width and along its length. The contour of the sides, linings, end block and heel block need to echo the arch of the back. The top may also have an arch, and the same entities need to reflect that.
One simple way of doing that is to make a simple sanding stick that assists in that effort. Start with a piece of wood about 2x2x18". Trace on one face the curvature you've used to arch the back. Trim, cut or sand to that contour. Glue sandpaper to that face and then run it up and down the length of the linings and blocks. With the back, in particular, with its curvature along its length, you'll need to take that into account with your sanding of the sides. If you don't, the back will have flat spots where glued to the end and heel blocks. Most of the excess can be removed with a sharp plane, block or smoothing.
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#3
10-25-2014, 04:58 PM
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FWIW, I use a plane and then finish off with a hand sanding block. You need to be confident of your skills to do this method, however.
__________________
---- Ned Milburn NSDCC Master Artisan Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
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#4
10-25-2014, 08:09 PM
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I don't know how to do it without a radius dish, but make sure you radius your rim before you glue your kerfing. Then radius again with the kerfing installed. This is the mistake I made on my first try. When I radiused my sides, I sanded away about half my kerfing in some places. Rookie mistake a lot of people make.
__________________
Bryan 
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#5
10-26-2014, 11:08 AM
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I use a refinement of Charles' technique. I install a long carriage bolt from the bottom of a board and sticking up 6" or so, set the mold on the board with the bolt about in the middle, drill a hole in the center of the sanding board, set it on the bolt, and spin it like a radius dish.
As with any method other than the radius dish, you need to site from all angles to be sure you are not sanding in a flat spot. Removing most of the heel and neck blocks with a plane will help in that area. Since this is only a few minute operation I have shied away from making a radius dish. Ed
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