Final Layup Complete - Now for the Sanding!

The final band board is glued and clamped! It was just too much to get both band boards on at the same time - not enough clamps and too little working time for the glue.  So I did them one at a time!

This shot of the finished product is from a 6' stepladder. The last of the clamps are back in their storage position and its time for the sanders to do their thing! I sanded for about 35-40 minutes today with 80 grit then 120 grit.
I get sloppy when I get tired, so I put the sander down for now and will resume Monday.

I set the router to a maximum cut with my bit. The bit is actually a Roman Ogee bit but when set as I have it, it simply rounds the edge. It has a bearing on the end to allow freehand cuts. The router has been so long mounted to the router table, I had to find the lower plate! 

I had no idea how hard it would be to run the router around the top of the countertop to round the edges! I don't mean it was physically hard, its just that a router can cut wood really fast and any slip-up and two weeks hard work is down the drain! The only time I've had similar feelings of impending doom was when I "Dutched" an entry door in Greenfield house! Cutting a $250 door - keep in mind this was 1977! - was incredibly hard!  But, as then, I double and triple checked everything and "let 'er fly!" Turned out great!

I did lower edge and corners as well

I followed up with about an hour of sanding with the Black & Decker orbital sander with 80 grit paper. Tomorrow, I'll load 100 grit, then 120.
I could be varnishing by Wednesday!
It is looking amazing and I am so happy I learned on the rollaround top!

I saw my good friend at church today and he suggested not to use 80 grit at all but to get through the 120 grit and then on to higher grits quickly. Since my finishing experience is extremely limited, I tried Jim's suggestion and it worked quite well! I think the heavier grit had actually been making most of the marks I was trying to sand out! So tonight, I used some 220 followed by 320 grit paper and it is turning out amazing! Jim said he does his finish sanding with 1500 grit. I checked and we have quite a supply of 600 grit but nothing finer. We used all the really fine stuff when we painted the Camaro a million years ago! So I'm thinking the final sanding will be with 600 grit. But there's still a lot to do with the 220 & 320.

Now I need to tap one of my friends to come over and help me gently flip this baby over so I can sand the bottom!
This baby could go into service by the Fourth of July!