pointers on planing

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zwing789

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I have been milling for a couple years, hobbyist mostly. I am planning on upgrading my bar (see recent post http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/optimum-bar-size.265796/ ), but the hangup I am running into is how to finishe the larger slabs. I don't have access to an industrial size planer, I have a 13 inch planer that has served me well with some smaller slabs, here is some hickory I recently finished for a table top below.

Three solutions to finishing large format slabs come to mind.
1 the belt sander approach -- a last resort
2 rent time on a mills large planer -- not interested I got into this to do things on my own, I don't really want to pay for this service
3 Nick Offerman router sled

 

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Here's some thing very similar to the offerman setup. IIRCC it has building the sled, rail setup and an easy way to ensure the end result is pretty much dead flat. You would just have to go back with a hand plane or sander to finish the job.
http://www.thewoodwhisperer.com/videos/flattening-workbenches-and-wide-boards-with-a-router/?category_name=split-top-roubo,techniques

I like that guy, I've seen him before doing Festool reviews. There are a couple good pointers in that video also. My main issue with the router method is that its going to have to be done inside and its going to be a mess. The more I think about it though I don't really see an alternative, I was hoping this post would turn up another option. Its so nice to just feed a board through a planer a few times, but I guess when you get into a bigger slab you limit your options.
 
Just go the Router Sled route, I find the ''dish carving bit'' works well, I run the 1"5/8 size with a freud 3ish HP Router.
If you are worried about making a mess just try connecting a shop vac to your dust port on your router, should work ok.(or at least better than nothing)
G Vavra
 

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Just go the Router Sled route, I find the ''dish carving bit'' works well, I run the 1"5/8 size with a freud 3ish HP Router.
If you are worried about making a mess just try connecting a shop vac to your dust port on your router, should work ok.(or at least better than nothing)
G Vavra

Thanks for the advice, what depth is acceptable with that bit? Do you find you need to take multiple passes?
 
Sled and router....doesn't take to long honestly (compared to the drying process on a big slab anyway!)
 
I am getting ready to try putting a few of my slabs to use and have been wondering the same thing. How big of a mess is using a belt sander?
 
the reason the belt sander is at the end of my list isn't so much the mess as much as the fact that no matter how hard you try you are always going to get an uneven surface, there will be hills and valleys, I've belt sanded a couple of big pieces of wood. The uneven surface may be ok depending on the application
 
I am getting ready to try putting a few of my slabs to use and have been wondering the same thing. How big of a mess is using a belt sander?
Start with the router sled. I have a big 4" Makita belt sander and even with 40 grit paper it takes to loooong. Better to use the sander or a hand plane after the bulk has been removed with the router. You definitely want both hooked to some dust collection.
 
So does this mean hand planing a big slab is out of the question? My milled boards seem to come out pretty damn flat, but that's before they're dried. I guess I should expect my slabs to have some minor bends and twists?
 
I use a portable power planer. It s pretty fast if your slabs are reasonably flat. If not, then a couple winding sticks work well. Follow up with a 7" disc sander. I start with 36 or 40 grit then 60 and 80. Random orbit 80-120-180-220. I'm going to build a router planer with 3" spoilboard cutter for rounds.
 
what depth is acceptable with that bit? Do you find you need to take multiple passes?
With the ''dish carving bit'' no problems with a heavy 1/8".
With any of my slabs I usually can spot the really bad (high) areas and knock them down with a 5" grinder and a 36grit disk. Then its usually 1-2 full passes. First pass removes the bulk of material second pass is a skim, that goes quicker.
 
I regularly sand outside even in the winter if it's not raining.
I like to keep the dust and mess out of the shop.
If you have a bench outside I don't see why it would be a problem.
If it rains all time then a lean to is good
Chad
 
good pointers, I would be interested to see a video of the portable planer in action on a slab

The only reason I would router inside is that I don't see anyway to get the whole system level unless its on a solid floor
 
So does this mean hand planing a big slab is out of the question? My milled boards seem to come out pretty damn flat, but that's before they're dried. I guess I should expect my slabs to have some minor bends and twists?

Hand planing a big slab is absolutely NOT out of the question, that's what I do. It is often just more work than most want to do and tends to be slower. The key is using the right tool for the job if you're going to do it all with hand planes. There may be some minor bending, twist, cupping, etc. after drying, that really depends on a multitude of variables. (drying conditions, how the tree grew, how it was cut, what section of the tree the slab was cut from and so on.) So if you do have a lot of material to remove make sure your plane is set up to remove a lot of material. Put a decent radius on the plane blade you are using to do the bulk of the removal and traverse the grain. As you get closer to true flat, switch to your longer planes and take a finer cut. My typical progression is from a scrub plane (only for really heavy removal), to my No.5 to get fairly close, then one full round with my jointer plane to get dead flat. Or at least as dead flat as your going to get until the wood moves again.
 
The only reason I would router inside is that I don't see anyway to get the whole system level unless its on a solid floor

You don't really need to get the whole system level, though it does need to be on a stable surface. So long a you find a method to mount rails in the same plane as you want to perform the removal (the string trick from the the woodwhisperer video). I would think that you could set up some saw horses wider than the slab to allow for space to mount the guide rails and then shim the whole thing into alignment. That being said, it is probably easier to just wear a respirator and perform the work inside, sweep of the big mess and come back a day later to vacuum the fine stuff up.
 
Here is another thread with some info previously discussed about using a router to flatten large slabs.
Search for the thread "planning slabs with a router" and you will find some other good info.
I have used all the methods listed above and they all work. Using the router method is just a lot faster and more accurate. Now that I have my large router table in my estimation a job would have to be fairly small and easy for me to contemplate using a hand planer, sander, etc. instead of taking a bit of time to assemble the router table.
 
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