Not quite tractor related but a project nonetheless

[Relic]

Thats very nice indeed,something to be very proud of.

 

[tkappeler]

Very nice. I've been thinking of doing something similar, but haven't figured out how to get it perfectly flat after rough cutting it. I can get a sawmill out here to do the basic cut, but then sanding it smooth without creating valleys is where I get lost. Did you use a drum sander or something like that?

Eddie

I just used a a belt sander as we wanted some imperfections to show through. That being said it it pretty darn close to perfectly smooth.

I do have access to a 36" drum sander for the future but is about 40 minutes away so a fair amount of travel for 5 minutes of work there.

The other option, which I am doing now for future use, is to built a carriage that I can move along my work table. Sort of like the carriage over material in a CNC table. The carriage will have a router in it with a 1.75" flattening bit that I can slide back and forth over the slab, flattening it. Move it back and forth for a pass, then move the carriage over a little and repeat. It will be perfectly flat when done.

 

[NewfieDan]

When I need to flatten a large panel I use a belt sander. I don't use any downward pressure, other than the weight of the sander itself. The other trick is to keep the sander constantly moving. If you stop for any amount if time, the sander will create a valley. Start the sander then put it down in the table. When you need to stop lift the sander off before turning the sander off.

The other thing I do is use "thickness gauges". This is just a set of boards set up around the edge of the panel to help maintain the right thickness. These boards also help to keep the edges from getting rounded over during the sanding, keeping them sharp and crisp.

So far I have built 4 tables this way without any issues.