Thread: Which planing/thicknessing power tools?

Good Morning Bob

Firstly, I have only an el cheapo Icon thicknesser so my experience is limited. In this area I am probably ten minutes ahead of you on the expereince trail!

One normally joints the timber first to establish two perfectly flat surfaces. Then one thicknesses that timber parallel to the two jointed surfaces.

A thicknesser can, and routinely does, correct timber that is slightly irregular in shape - multiple passes may be necessary - but it baulks at grossly irregular shapes. Use a saw.

The minimum length that my thicknesser can handle is about 200 mm. It is determined by the spacing between the infeed and outfeed rollers and the ease of feeding wood into the machine.

I do not have a jointer so I use a sled in my thicknesser - just a 1200mm strip of MDF with a stopper cleat on the infeed end. The thicknesser then thicknesses the timber parallel to its reference surface which is the MDF sled and it is flat and true. One I am happy with that first surface - perhaps multiple passes - I take it off the sled and thickness the other side. I also have a 1500mm sled but it is awkward to use - just too big.



Fair Winds

Graeme

Thanks for getting back to me Graeme.

Making a MDF sled. What a top idea, I'm usually tech minded and that never occured to me.

It sound like a good idea to get a thicknesser then. I can't afford alot of different tools and if I can use the thicknesser for little odds and end pieces like this it would be great.

Thankyou greatly