Thicknessing boards too wide for the planer

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steambender

New User
Will
I have some 1/4" x 15" x 60" boards I need to plane down to 1/8". This is fresh cut green lumber. I am guessing removing 1/8" with a hand plane would be a lot of work on a piece this big. Anyone ever try something like this with an electric hand plane, or is there a better way?

Thanks for any advice anyone might have.
 

Mike Davis

Mike
Corporate Member
You are only taking off 1/8 inch, the wood is fresh GREEN and wet?

I would think that would clog a belt sander pretty quick.

I'd try the electric hand planer with a fresh new set of blades, don't try to take it all at once. Maybe set the planer for 1/64 or so on each pass. Take diagonal cuts across the board and work from one end to the other then back the other way. The final pass go straight from one end to the other. Grind the corners off the blades so they wont leave overlap marks.

I would practice on a scrap 1 x 12 until I felt comfortable with the process, then leave it for a day while the brain settles in on the idea.
 

zapdafish

New User
Steve
I think the current issue or previous month issue of finewoodworker shows someone using a router sled/jig to thickness wood.
 

Sully

New User
jay
Set your table saw blade to make a cut with a depth of a hair less than 1/8". Then make a series of non-thru cuts along the length of the board leaving a few non-cut regions along the middle section also. Clean-up the remaining regions with a chisel and then flatten with a plane. Should be done in less than an hour. This assumes that the board is already fairly flat in one plane and is of reasonably uniform thickness.


thickness.jpg


You may be cutting across grain fibers so you may get some splitting of the board as it dries in the form.

$0.02
J
 

ScottM

Scott
Staff member
Corporate Member
I have a 16-32 wide belt sander. I am only a mile South of the VA border and 20 minutes off of I-95 if you want to take a ride.
 

gator

George
Corporate Member
Of course there is always ripping the board in half, planing the two pieces down and gluing them back together.

George
 

Glennbear

Moderator
Glenn
1) Large diameter straight router bit.

2) Dado blade set at maximum width making repeated passes with the depth set to give you just over a finished 1/8" thickness and followed with sanding. :wsmile:
 

mkepke

Mark
Senior User
If the lumber is really green, I suspect sandpaper/sanders will clog pretty rapidly. 1/8" is a lot of material to remove by sanding.

Personally I'd try taping a piece to a carrier board and sending it through the thickness planer. Being green, I would expect the wood would be much less prone to shatter as it sometimes does when planing thin (and dry !) pieces.

-Mark
 

CrealBilly

New User
Jeff
If the lumber is really green, I suspect sandpaper/sanders will clog pretty rapidly. 1/8" is a lot of material to remove by sanding.

Personally I'd try taping a piece to a carrier board and sending it through the thickness planer. Being green, I would expect the wood would be much less prone to shatter as it sometimes does when planing thin (and dry !) pieces.

-Mark

Been there done that - if the wood is flat sawn be extra careful to pay attention to grain direction changes. When wood is wet a planer will almost always find the grain that changes direction and peel it up instead of cutting it. Then you end up with a real mess and something way thinner than you wanted.
 
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