Sanding Joy

The bandsaw looked so lonely in the shop, I decided to but it a friend. Ok, not really, while a bandsaw is perfect for making curved cuts, it’s usually leaves a semi rough surface. Convex cuts are east to clean up with a sanding stick. Large concave curves can easily be tackled with a sanding stick. Small ones on the other hand, can be a real pain in my opinion, I only know of two ways to smooth them out, with an oss, or by hand. I’ve done it by hand for years, and to be honest, it kind of sucks, It’s fine for one or two curves, but for several it’s really annoying.

I’ve been wanting an OSS for years, and I had always planed to get the Jet JBOS-5, but when it came time, my local woodworking store only had the General 15-220, so Thats what I brought home. I also picked up the 3″ accessory drum.  I’ve been using it for a few days now, and i’m more than happy with it’s performance. The top has been ground very flat, and smooth.  The dust collection is excellent, and it’s also very quiet. So far I only have to minor dislikes. The insert hole had a slight bur that I easily cleaned up with sandpaper. A little less trivial is the fact that inserts are thinner than the depth of the dado they sit in, this a minor annoyance that can probably be addressed with the careful application of masking tape.