Hand Planer

[bcarvings]

Hi,
I have over 60 board foot of wood. The wood is rough sawm and needs to be straigtened. They were cut by a sawmil, and kiln dried, but how do I plane them now? They need more than sanding.
I saw a proffessinal hand planer for $120. Are hand planers good? Could a hand planer turn a 2 x 2 1/4 x 12 in a 2x2x12? {But Mailnly I want the planer to straigten the wood.} Or should I get a delta shopmaster planer for $200. I think that the hand planer would do a better job right?
Also Do I need a jionter to? All the wood is crooked, and I don't know how to get it straight... Mabye I could get a hand jionter, and a hand planer? Please help

[BobD]

It depends on how much wood you are willing to lose.

The way to save the most wood is to run one side on a jointer to smooth and level it. Then once it's level, you run it through a thickness planer.

Myself, I hate trying to handle a large board on a jointer (especially since my dad has one of the combination planer jointers). I clamp the wood down and use a scrub plane across the board to plane out the cups. Then I run a jointer plane the length of the board to get rid any remaining twist. Then I run it through the surface planer.

I don't really like the hand held electric planers for serious planing. THey are great to shave down a joist or something like that, but I prefer the control I get with handplanes.

I'm sure there are other opinions out there, though...

Bob

[bcarvings]

Hi,
Thanks for the info. New question, I have a block of wood that is twisted on all 4 sides. Can I get that perfectly straight using just a jionter?

It depends on how serious you are. If you only have 60 bd ft, a little time with a powered hand planer should get you some smooth stock. Especially if that is all you are wanting to accomplish. DO NOT SAND! Unless you want to ruin some carving tools.

If you want true dimensions and have longer lengths, then you need both a joiner and planer - especially if you want to be accurate. It really depends on what your goal is and how much you are willing to spend. You will wind up loosing wood trying to straighten up longer pieces.

Why put the effort into it? I hardly ever buy planed stock since I cut all of that away anyway. Only if I need to have details drawn on before I rough out a carving do I try to clean the piece....then I usually just trim it off on the bandsaw by ripping off 1/16'or so. Or even shave off the 'fuzzies' by trimming with a knife. I have both a 12' planer and a powered hand planer and VERY rarely use either.

Lastly, if you are just cleaning up 2' stock and are concerned with money, buy a manual hand plane from a yard sale or hardware store. The used ones generally clean up easily. All are easier to use than the electric ones (after you learn how to set it up).

[bcarvings]

Hi,
If I but a $100 jionter, and then learn to tune a hand planer and use it correctly would that get wood perfectly straight?

Also What are the steps? I use the jionter on one surface or two? And then do I use the hand planer on all 4 to get a perfect non-twisted 2x2?

Also I would like to tell you about my wood. I have
50 1x1x12
30 2x2x12
26 2x3x12
5 4x4x24
5 4x6x24
All of it is kiln dried. It is in the rough.
I don't mind hard work as long as the wood is perfectly square! My bugjet is like bellow $300, so mabye I can get a average jionter, and a good hand planer? And I fear the sharpening of the blades once again.....
Thanks for all your help and more is appreciated GREATLY

[BobD]

B.

It really depends on what you want to do with the wood. Are you planning on using the wood right away, or are you going to store it for a while? If you are going to store it for a while, there's no point finishing it because its bound to get dinged up in storage...

Bob

[bcarvings]

Hi,
I just want to be perfect 2x2's 3x3's ect. They will not be stored. They will immediatly be used.

[BobD]

B.
Here's my budget minded suggestion:

Go to a flea market and get a handplane. Get a piece of float glass and glue a strip of sandpaper down to it to flatten the bottom of the plane. Get a plane iron sharpening guide from Lee Valley, Wood Craft -- all kinds of places have them and you can usually pick it up for less than $20. The guide makes sharpening almost idiot proof.

Plane one surface flat with the plane (you know iits flat when you cut a strip from one end of the plane to the other. Then get a surface planer and run the boards through that.

For the other surface, plane one side flat. Then run it throught your table saw just barely ripping off the other side. Then you don't need to worry about a jointer.

Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I've messed up several boards with a hand-held planer. They are extremly difficult to control. If you must use one, practice on scrap wood first!!!

Another way to handle all this would be to take the wood to a local mill and see what they'd charge to plane it for you...

Bob

[bcarvings]

Hi,
This is so Confusing! I Really REALLY perfer to pay someone to plane this wood for me. Do you know of someone I can go to locally to plane it for me? I live in Wilkes-Barre PA, its 15 miles from Scranton. I have a little over 60 board foot, can I find someone that would charge only .25 a board foot? Also some of my 2x2 are exacly 2x2, how would they get straigtened without getting them down to 1 1/2 inch. Is it possible that whoever I pay to do this would take like 1/32 of an inch and straighten it out? Please help thanks!

[AlArchie]

Check your local yellow pages and see if there are any small independent mills....they will do the planing for you around here, and maybe they will in your area, too.

Check, also with the local high school or middle school wood shop. I've had some planing done there...they were glad to get the practice. Maybe even a cabinet shop that does their own millwork wouldn't mind planing a few boards for you.

Al