Thread: Whats best to use. Hand planer or belt sander?

Hand plane. Then sand. Belt sander may end up making the surface uneven and not level. But if you're not good with sharpening or using hand planes then I recommend you learn first. Either way. Practice before.

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I'd start with a jack plane if you have or can borrow one

My 2 cents - knock up a router sled (quality Maktec by Makita router can be had for ~$150) out of cheap pine and use it as a wide format thicknesser, then belt sand, then random orbital sand. I do it with every slab I get and it's bulletproof. Very quick, very safe, and you can keep using the sled many times over. Best thing I ever added to the workshop.

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Thank's for your reply. I'll see if I can borrow a hand planer from a friend to try.

Thank's Putty. I will look into that. Would you by chance have a picture of the router sled you use?

Need to clarify my question I should have said what would be better, a powered hand planer or a belt sander. Sorry for my bad!

Electric hand planner is what I use on any slabs to big to go through my 500mm thicknesser . Its definitely the way to go compared to a belt sander. I go from electric planer to spoke shaves and smoothing planes cabinet scrapers and just lightly sand with 280 grit after that . Its fast and I have a very small sand paper bill .
Rob

Originally Posted by Jayhawk714

Thank's Putty. I will look into that. Would you by chance have a picture of the router sled you use?

Mate I don't but only because my phone camera is busted. I was lucky in so much as I came across a guy giving away a free, solid fantastic furniture table which I glued some particleboard to in order to extend the surface area. Then I got two straight (had to hunt through the stack at bunnings but I found them!) 2000x200x20 lengths of dressed pine. I glued these parallel to one another at the edges of my table, clamped overnight, then planed them down a little to suit the maximum height of the slabs I'd be running through it. They are the rails. The sled is 4 pieces of (straight!!) dressed pine that lock the router in place.

I'm going to stop here because I'm typing with one hand due to an angle grinder accident (See the safety forum for the gruesome pic!!) and it will take me ages to explain it all.

Go google 'router sled' - there are a few ways of doing it but honestly mine was very cheap, very accurate and most of all incredibly simple. If you would like shoot me a private message and when my scarred up left arm is pulled out of the cast on Tuesday next week I'll take all the measurements and draw a simple design for you to follow, but like I said there's loads of info online if you don't want to wait. More than happy to help though.

Putty

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When it comes to flattening timber, if you spend too long in one spot with a belt sander you will make a large divot about the size of the belt/platen. Let's say something like 3" by 5".

A 'leccy hand plane? Generally a mark on the order of 1/2" x width of planer.

So?

Go for the 'leccy plane. It's more forgiving to a beginner. (Not that I'd ever recommend a belt sander for flattening accurately. )

Thank's auscab. In my mind the power planer would be quicker to get the "heavy" material off first.

Originally Posted by Jayhawk714

Thank's auscab. In my mind the power planer would be quicker to get the "heavy" material off first.

Yes, but also quicker to stuff it up and a much bigger stuff up to fix. Ugly tear out comes to mind and that awful machine ripple and snipe that will need to be removed afterwards, making your board thinner and thinner. All depends on the individual piece of timber, grain direction, species etc. If you're not experienced in hacking off layers of timber at high speed with an electric planer or belt sander then I'd use hand planes, at least at first, if you can't get it done fast enough with hand planes then you're probably not using them correctly or they are not sharp. Use a scrub plane (or converted number 4) then go over it with your favourite Jack plane, finish with a smoother. Done, after a light sand. If you were producing large numbers of these then it might be quicker and easier to use machines/power-tools. And if you were doing a large batch it might be the perfect opportunity to learn and practice hand planes.

When I first started I was using an un-even workbench for years, made it from recycled timber when I was a teenager and for years I put off flattening it. One day I decided to just tackle it with hand planes and when done I wondered why I had put it off for so long, I was also glad I never made the mistake of taking to it with a machine or belt sander. I now have a perfectly flat surface to work from and it's easy to quickly maintain if things get out of flat down the track. My router sled has been hanging on the wall for about 5 years now, never need to use it. Along with my edge jointer, gathering dust, I do it all by hand now, no fussing with machines. Woodworking, not machine working. Listen to the radio and relax.. Don't become a hobby factory worker.

I'm not a handtool purest, I still use whatever gets the dob done quickest and easiest but I look back over the years and how I did things then compared to how I do things now, I wish I'd started using planes and hand tools much earlier, would have saved me a lot of headaches, time adjusting machines, making jigs, sending blades out for sharpening etc etc.

For one off projects, hand tools are usually a much quicker way to work. Many people don't get through the learning process with sharpening etc, developing skills and leaning what the tool can do and do quickly, then they go looking for an easier path, not necessarily the best path to take though in my opinion.

Originally Posted by Ausworkshop

Yes, but also quicker to stuff it up and a much bigger stuff up to fix. Ugly tear out comes to mind and that awful machine ripple and snipe that will need to be removed afterwards, making your board thinner and thinner. All depends on the individual piece of timber, grain direction, species etc. If you're not experienced in hacking off layers of timber at high speed with an electric planer or belt sander then I'd use hand planes, at least at first, if you can't get it done fast enough with hand planes then you're probably not using them correctly or they are not sharp. Use a scrub plane (or converted number 4) then go over it with your favourite Jack plane, finish with a smoother. Done, after a light sand. If you were producing large numbers of these then it might be quicker and easier to use machines/power-tools. And if you were doing a large batch it might be the perfect opportunity to learn and practice hand planes.

When I first started I was using an un-even workbench for years, made it from recycled timber when I was a teenager and for years I put off flattening it. One day I decided to just tackle it with hand planes and when done I wondered why I had put it off for so long, I was also glad I never made the mistake of taking to it with a machine or belt sander. I now have a perfectly flat surface to work from and it's easy to quickly maintain if things get out of flat down the track. My router sled has been hanging on the wall for about 5 years now, never need to use it. Along with my edge jointer, gathering dust, I do it all by hand now, no fussing with machines. Woodworking, not machine working. Listen to the radio and relax.. Don't become a hobby factory worker.

I'm not a handtool purest, I still use whatever gets the dob done quickest and easiest but I look back over the years and how I did things then compared to how I do things now, I wish I'd started using planes and hand tools much earlier, would have saved me a lot of headaches, time adjusting machines, making jigs, sending blades out for sharpening etc etc.

For one off projects, hand tools are usually a much quicker way to work. Many people don't get through the learning process with sharpening etc, developing skills and leaning what the tool can do and do quickly, then they go looking for an easier path, not necessarily the best path to take though in my opinion.

"Don't become a hobby factory worker."

waffle waffle waffle

He's got a lot of wood to remove and precious time to save . There is plenty of time to get romantic with a hand plane after the slab is straight mate.

Rob

Ive got some pictures of lots of wood to remove .

The two slabs for the center panels in this table were to wide for my thicknesser . They also had cupped and twisted . With winding sticks placed out on the ends on jobs like this the twist can be 20mm or more out . With a piece of wax to lube the planer sole and traverse planing then straightening off and checking with winding sticks and a long aluminium straight edge the whole slab was made true on top and now within range of using hand finishing techniques . every other piece of the table was also machined then hand finished .
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Funnily enough same wood in the second pictures. Cypress Pine . A load of it was dumped on the property we moved to . Before we bought it that is . I though I may as well use it rather than burn it . So I started on a shaving horse project . I ended up splitting the log and then used the electric hand planner to get it flat . It took a good hour of work or more . The thing was probably 70 mm high in the middle . Since this project which I haven't yet finished I have bought a slabbing attachment for the chainsaw . And that's a lot faster .

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Rob

Thanks again Putty. Get well soon my friend