Intarsia - and I didn't know ! Some help please

[oldwood]

The heading really says it all ! 

My neighbour produced the Summer issue of "Scrollsaw Woodworking and Crafts" magazine, and I was taken with a jewelry box that will nicely for my granddaughter. 

I've done it as a mixed turning and scrolling exercise.  The lid is where I'm on new territory and need some guidance.  It's an intarsia flower - very basic three layers of petals (purple heart, yew and holly) and a bit of turned bog oak for the centre.

My problem is sanding the edges of the petals - there's nothing in the article about this and I'm assuming that the magazine is targeted at the more advanced scroller who must know how to do this and get the even sanding that the article shows.  Looking at another article, which describes modelling a wedding dress in intarsia, the sanding is done on a horizontal flexible drum sander to get the smooth flow of the material. 

Is such a sander the only way to get even sanding of the edges of small piece parts ?  Are there alternative options ?  It really is just a good roll-over I'm after for 8mm and 4mm thick pieces.  I was not happy with the trialling of some scraps on a large sanding disc.

Rob                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

[Brian Pardue]

I do a lot of Intarsia. If you are wanting to thin down an entire piece (petal) i would draw a line along the entire edge and slice it off by cutting it with the scroll saw. This is the best way when it comes to small pieces.  Larger pieces I use a belt sander. Far as contouring the edges you can use a Dremel with a flexible wand and various sanding drums for the Dremel. Then hand sand the shapes to smooth them out. That is how I started before getting the Flexible sanding drum they were referring too.
Hope this helps
Brian 

[spirithorse]

Good answers from Brian but, I wanted to say that you can also buy very inexpensive
drum sanders for a drill or drill press that come in many different sizes.
I usually use a 1" belt sander for the rough finish, then the drill press drum sander, and then a final hand sanding.
Good luck and God Bless! Spirithorse

[oldwood]

Many thanks for your replies, Brain and Spirithorse.

The guidance given was an adequate solution.  I must follow this up and see if the wood-working club has a flexible sanding drum.

I do have one of the drill sanding sets but wasn't that enthusiastic about using it in this application.  In the end I gingerly used the 300mm sanding disc (120grit) on my wood turning lathe as a starter, followed by a Dremel sander and then a flap contour drum lent by a friend and mounted in an electric drill.  Results were satisfactory.

An interesting exercise - the purple heart tended to burn with the large disc until I turned the speed down to 300rpm and/or moved near the middle of the disc; the yew and holly weren't so sensitive.  The dremel sanding drums are all a bit course for delicate work but worked OK if used lightly and quickly.  I haven't had the feedback from my friend on the source of the contour sanding drum apart from it being 320 grit and cost 22 GBP (!!), but it was great and gave the work a nice finish - worth looking into, at least if possibly finding a cheaper source!!

Again thanks
Rob