Woodworking Online

[Toller]

My local high school was kind enough to let me use their 18" planer on some
17" panels. The shop teacher warned me the blades were "nicked up a bit".
Well, the wood came out looking like it had falling out of a speeding car.
It took me a very long time to clean up with 80grit in a ROS; every time I
thought I was done and went to finer grit I saw the marks were still there.

Is there a better way to go about this? I never use my belt sander on
anything other than rough carpentry, but I was tempted.

Thanks.

[Mike G]

Hand plane, cabinet scraper. Belt sander? I'd rather use my teeth!

--
Mike G.
mikeg@heirloom-woods.net
Heirloom Woods
www.heirloom-woods.net
"Toller" <toller@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:dFt%b.697$CS3.555@news02.roc.ny...

[Toller]

"Mike G" <xmikegx@heirloom-woods.net> wrote in message
news:ib6dnfVr1PpL8KPdRVn-hw@comcast.com...

[George]

Folks at the wood hobby shop on my last base were happy to see me, the
Co-Pilot and a stack of wood. Meant they'd get the knives sharpened, set
and left better than before I planed my stock.

Scrapers or planes are best on ridging. If you also had case-hardening, you
should soak the surface before sanding to break the heat set.

"Toller" <toller@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:dFt%b.697$CS3.555@news02.roc.ny...

[Leon]

"Mike G" <xmikegx@heirloom-woods.net> wrote in message
news:ib6dnfVr1PpL8KPdRVn-hw@comcast.com...

[Dave Rowell]

"Toller" <toller@yahoo.com> wrote in news:aqu%b.1$Gw.0@news01.roc.ny:

[Dave Balderstone]

In article <aqu%b.1$Gw.0@news01.roc.ny>, Toller <toller@yahoo.com>
wrote:

[Mike G]

Far from me to buck a trend, I concur with the consensus recommending the
#4. It's the one I most often reach for in just about any circumstances.

Using a plane isn't rocket science and really doesn't have a huge learning
curve. However, setting it up is a somewhat different story. Still not
rocket science but make you adjustments and test them on scrap before you
take on your panel.

For what you are talking about you will probably want the throat closed to
it's maximum and the blade set for taking the very finest of shavings off.
Don't get greedy and try to do it in one pass. Attack the surface with the
grain but with the plane at a slight angle to the direction of travel. This
will give you a cleaner slicing cut and help avoid chatter. Don't bear down
on the plane, let it do it's thing mostly by weight. You're not trying to
remove a lot of material here, just some raised lines.

When doing a panel you will probably find the hardest thing is getting the
blade parallel to the sole of the plane so don't test you adjustments on the
edge of a piece of stock do it on the face so you are taking full width
cuts.

Good luck
--
Mike G.
mikeg@heirloom-woods.net
Heirloom Woods
www.heirloom-woods.net
"Toller" <toller@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:aqu%b.1$Gw.0@news01.roc.ny...

[Puff Griffis]

I know this does not answer your question but have you thought about replacing the blades on the planer for the kids ? I know your not obligated in any way but it would insure you further use of the tool and it would benefit the kids a bunch.
Puff

"Toller" <toller@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:dFt%b.697$CS3.555@news02.roc.ny...

[Silvan]

Mike G wrote:

[RB]

I have always been wary of using a belt sander on good wood but have
discovered recently that it does a very nice job. I've been sanding
some large and very long birch using a Makita 9403 belt sander (11 amp
motor behind a 4 x 24 inch belt) and the results were impressive. I
suspect, although I haven't tried, that my smaller belt sanders would
not yield such good results though.

I'm surprised that the shop teacher doesn't offset the blades a bit to
eliminate the effect of the nicked blades.
RB

Toller wrote: