OK, maybe that’s too dramatic of a title, but I’m at the point in the hope chest build where woodworkers often fear to tread – sanding. Ugh. I know that I have to make the surfaces of the chest buttery smooth to the touch, but why does this remind me of an old timey household chore?

Be that as it may, the time has come. So, I might as well get started. Fortunately, I had done a fairly good job of getting things nice and smooth with the thickness planer, so removing the machining marks is one thing I will have to do. Of course, I am going to employ the random orbit sander for this…

It does an OK – if not reduce-you-to-tears-of-boredom – kind of job on the piece. And it does an admirable job of taking down any glue squeeze out, thickness planer divots, dings or the like. It’s a nice tool, and the model I have connects easily to the dust collection, so at least I’m not breathing this junk in.

Oh, crap, I had a few spots where glue from the corners squeezed out. To tackle that, I turned to one of my Japanese chisels sharpened to a sweet edge. At least this feels more like woodworking…

For areas where the random orbit sander can’t get, I suppose I could wrap some sandpaper around a block and sand into the corners. Yeah, we’re back to the washboard analogy. Instead, I have turned to another tool that makes this less of a chore – a card scraper.

Properly sharpened, this thing is a joy to use up in the corners, and it helps make this not too tolerable job just a bit more tolerable.

OK, the end result is always good, so I guess it’s just going to be time for me to suck it up and get on with it. After all, the only way this surface prep is going to get done is to get off my butt and do it.