Thread: Heavy duty planing and flattening

Buzzer/Jointer followed by Heavy duty thicknesser.

you could also use a very rigid bandsaw and resaw all the boards.

I'm not sure if it would be much quicker then running them trough a jointer/thicknesser.

As China has already said; jointer & thicknesser. If the boards are already dressed you can forego the jointer.

The timbers you’ve mentioned are somewhat hard, I would be looking at 3-phase machinery if possible with helical heads. Normal 10A plug-in machines won’t be able to make deep cuts in 10” ironbark so you’ll be either looking at 3ph gear or discarding your wish for “removing large amounts in one pass”.

Originally Posted by Chief Tiff

As China has already said; jointer & thicknesser. If the boards are already dressed you can forego the jointer.

The timbers you’ve mentioned are somewhat hard, I would be looking at 3-phase machinery if possible with helical heads. Normal 10A plug-in machines won’t be able to make deep cuts in 10” ironbark so you’ll be either looking at 3ph gear or discarding your wish for “removing large amounts in one pass”.

Great, thanks.

Those timbers that you mention are all very hard and may have difficult grain. Dressing will require robust equipment of good quality - code for expensive.

If you do not already have such equipment, or you get sticker shock when you discover the price, then you might consider subcontracting the job to a local joinery shop. Provided that you use new timber, this should be relaively easy.

However, if you use salvaged timber, then most joinery shops will not allow it near their machines because of the risk of damage from hiddent nasties.

Best would be second hand stuff if you want to spend the least and have the most GRUNT.
A 3 phase 12" buzzer . Second hand . Wolfenden machines show up for between $650 and $1000 if you search the adds. Straight knives . They are a good robust machine.

And a second hand 24" Thicknesser . LS Barker or Wolfenden is a good Aussie made start. If your a small set up and can make plenty of noise you could get a way with an old square head. Just do a bit of research so you buy one with life left in its blades, or else they cost big $$ to replace. And that the bolts holding the blades in are in OK condition . And Good bearings. Bad bolts can lead to blades being thrown . Rare but it does happen when a head has been abused by idiots using a pipe as leverage to over tighten the bolts up . Ask a bit about all this in the vintage machinery section here if you want to know more. Or PM me if you like .
https://www.woodworkforums.com/f299

Rob