Planer

Tom Militano

KNIFE MAKER
I have a bunch of 4" to 6" blocks that need to be sized to uniform sizes, 1 1/2" square. Will a planer handle short pieces like that? Thanks
 
A planer will not take that short of stuff. A jointer might be better. It will take a skilled hand to be safe. A planer will turn them sideways and spit them back at you. Not fun.
 
OK, I don't need that. Thanks for the reply. It's back to the belt sander. I need to make me a new flat platen for my Bader 2, that piece of junk that came with it isn't long enough to even work on anything over about four inches. Remind me to never buy another Bader product. Their customer service stinks. I have called three times in the past year requesting a parts catalog, to no avail. The people always say we'll get it right out. Yeah right! It's always been a headache to get tracking right. OK, rant over.
 
I don't know if you'd want to do it, but it can work. Just keep a line going without a gap, or send a piece of scrap behind the block. All the stock has to be about the same thickness to start so that the feed rollers can hold on to the block and whatever's coming behind it. Done it a bunch of times, stand to the side and use a push stick. If it's a 'bunch' and it needs to be uniform, I'd use the planer.

Pass if you're not comfortable, Craig
 
You can use a drum sander attachment on your drill press with a jig to plane down your stock. Its much safer than having your fingers over two steel blades or having a piece kick out of a thickness planer. If you need help envisioning it, I can post a sketch (have to look for it as it is misplaced). You'll need a reference block or something that's pretty darn flat to make sure your pieces are coming out square on your first few tries. After some practice, its pretty easy.

The one I use is a bit more complex but this one works too and is easy to build. Hope it helps.

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What you might do is get a longer board that will fit through the planer and stick the smaller pieces to it with some good double sided carpet tape. Just don't try to take too much off per pass, and the pieces should plane just fine.

You may want to run the long board through the planer first, just to make sure everything stays even.

As for Bader, if their machines or customer service are anything like their website, I think I'll pass. Unlike most of the pages, their grinder will not be "coming soon"... haha. Sorry, but that's one of my biggest pet peeves... Go pay a college student (or even a highschooler) with Frontpage a couple hundred bucks to fill in the gaps and be done with it. For what they charge for their grinders and contact wheels they shouldn't have any trouble with funds.
 
I appreciate the replies and the information. I'm going to build one of those jigs. I've never been happy with my Bader 2. I've been looking at the TW-90 by Wuertz. It's not the cheapest one out there, but I think I'll pull the trigger on one soon. Thanks again for the help.
 
There are many ways to accomplish this task.

Which method you use will usually depend on what types of tools you already possess.
It will also depend on the final result you wish to obtain, as each method inevitably has compromises (pros and cons).

Something that has worked well for me is a rotary planer head. Luthiers use this method constantly; it allows you to plane stock from very small to very large. It is also the quickest method to create different thicknesses in the same piece for contoured rabbets, etc.
All you need is the planer head and your drill press. The press table can be parallel to the cutter head for parallel work, or angled to create tapers.

For smaller stock like your knife blocks/scales, it would be well-advised to use a feed method which keeps your fingers clear. Use a push stick, or even better, my favorite method- clamping the block in an F-bar clamp. Using the bar clamp allows you to have a positive hold on the piece for purposes of moving it, yet not have your hands near the cutters.

If you are not familiar with this, here are a few links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YWgXeVaSJw
http://www.amazon.com/G-W-Tools-Safety-Planer/dp/B0037MCHOA/ref=sr_1_1?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1311018977&sr=1-1
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tools/Planes/Wagner_Safe-T-Planer.html

Good luck,
Rob
 
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Tom, I sometimes get 1/2" scales off E-Bay. I glue {with 2 drops of super glue}the scales to a 3/4" board end to end and run them through the planer. Just take off small passes and never had any problems. Jerry
 
My Dewalt thickness planer takes 5-6" pieces without any problem. Not all tools are alike!
 
Tom
A way to figure the smallest single piece that can be fed through safely is to measure center-to-center between the in-feed roller and out-feed roller then add one inch.
Example mine is 11” center-to-center so the smallest that I can run through this one is a 12” single piece.

Todd
 
I don't know if we're talking about wood or man made materials, but for wood you might really want to consider a bench plane. Give me a well set up hand plane with a well sharpened blade and I can smooth or dimension a piece of small stock In less time than it takes to set up most power tools and jigs. That and a decent plane will cost a fraction of the price of a planer/joiner.
 
I don't know if we're talking about wood or man made materials, but for wood you might really want to consider a bench plane. Give me a well set up hand plane with a well sharpened blade and I can smooth or dimension a piece of small stock In less time than it takes to set up most power tools and jigs. That and a decent plane will cost a fraction of the price of a planer/joiner.

Jwhite, not to sound argumentative but I would have suggested this were it not for burls. Even when stabilized, the grain in burl makes it nearly impossible to hand plane, scrape or plane with any ease. I've started building a DIY Sand Planer Machine for this reason. Hand tools tend be my preferred method but every now and again, they are inappropriate for the task at hand and expensive if you don't already own one. A good plane will cost nearly as much as used planer or jointer. At any rate, if it works for you keep on. Burls have bested me and worn my patience to the point where I don't often consider edged hand tools for them.

Regards,
M
 
What model Dewalt planer do you have? Thanks for the reply.

DW734, 3 blade single speed portable thickness planer.

http://www.dewalt.com/tools/machinery-portable-thickness-planers-dw734.aspx

As much as I'd love a bigger unit to do tabletop sized work, this does everything I need knife and general hobby woodwork related...including turning slabs of wood into knife blocks and scales. My brother has a similar 12" Ryobi unit that will take ends off short pieces as previously mentioned, but this Dewalt just slides them through.
 
Nevermind having many many carpentry tools after 40 years in the biz.....this doodad I found about ten years ago and have since bought a total of three. It will never wear out. I should of thought of it myself but it's too simple of an idea.

It's a 10" x 3/16" sanding blade that I attach PSA disks to and run in one of my retired portable table saws. This one has 80 grit on one side and 120 on the other. It affords me a nice large top to work on that is square to the blade. It works better than I would ever have guessed, you can work both sides of the blade with a stable surface for the lumber. This is one of the best $10.00 purchases I've ever made.
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The cats out of the bag now.lol
I've never run across anyone with this set up.

Rudy
 
Jwhite, not to sound argumentative but I would have suggested this were it not for burls. Even when stabilized, the grain in burl makes it nearly impossible to hand plane, scrape or plane with any ease. I've started building a DIY Sand Planer Machine for this reason. Hand tools tend be my preferred method but every now and again, they are inappropriate for the task at hand and expensive if you don't already own one. A good plane will cost nearly as much as used planer or jointer. At any rate, if it works for you keep on. Burls have bested me and worn my patience to the point where I don't often consider edged hand tools for them.

Regards,
M

Not at all it's a perfectly reasoned position, I sometimes forget that I have a selection of planes so that I always have one ready for what I'm working and burl takes special care. I would like to add that good hand tools don't have to cost a fortune especially in the vintage market.
 
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