Thickness plane from 2 1/8 > 1 1/4 ?

[Brian]

Hi all,

I'm needing some more advice on thickness planing. I'm in my early projects stage after inheriting tools from my father.

My plans call for 1 1/4" boards. When I went to the wood store I found some poplar (2 1/8" actual size) for $2.70 / board foot. The only other wood available in poplar was I think 3/4", too thin for what I need. So I bought 2 boards 8' boards thinking of running them thru the thickness planer.

After a bit of thought on my way home, I realized I'm going to attempt to plane off 3/4" each board... seems like a lot of planing. So I located another wood source that quoted me $1.86/board foot and had 6/4 in stock. Grrrrrr.... I regret not further investigating an alternative source.

My questions are:

1) Am I going to be putting a lot of unneccesary excessive wear on my Delta 22-540 thickness planer taking that much wood off?

2) Can I realistically get 1 1/4" out of 6/4 lumber should I purchase it?

If I had something in mind to use the 2+ " lumber I have then I'd hang on to it for another project. I'm not sure what to do!

[Andy]

Sure does! That's what resawing is for. Do you have a bandsaw, or do you know where you could borrow or hire one?

That's what I'd do. Would it be a big deal if it comes out to 1 3/16" thick after planing?

Andy

[Mike]

Your best bet is to resaw it on a bandsaw. If you don't have a bandsaw, why not try posting where you are located and see if someone in your area would be willing to saw the boards for you.

I know that if a fellow woodworker in my area (Pittsburgh, PA) wanted to stop by with, oh, I don't know, maybe a cold six pack... I'd be more than happy to cut a few boards.

Mike

[J. Clarke]

Well, yeah, you're going to put more wear on it than otherwise, but unless you've got miles of this stuff I wouldn't worry about it.

You'll cut down on waste if you can saw it to 1-3/8 or 1-1/2 first.

Well, think of something.

[Brian]

Thanks guys for the replies. I'll check and see if I can locate a band saw. I'm in small town Stillwater, OK so if there are any pokes in the area that would work (get it.. would work!!?) I'd like to hear!

So with that option pending, if I can't find a band saw then would it be best to use the thickness planer for the whole job or take off a

1/2" or so with the jointer first? Or does it matter?

Thank you!! --Brian

Mike wrote:

[JOE MOHNIKE]

If you are unable to find a band saw you can try this. Use your table saw make several passes to cut to the maximum depth of your saw on both edges. Then set you saw to cut away the waste. This will leave you with a ridge down the center which can be planed off I have had to do this several time it is not the best but does work, I would give myself

1/8-1/4" forgiveness room.

[Lincoln Terns]

No, you can literally do thousands of passes on a decent planer with no appreciable wear.

Maybe, depending on how straight, flat and square the boards are and how much the actual thickness is. Bring a rule and a sharp eye to the yard.

Generally speaking you should try to buy your lumber as close to the finish dimensions as possible, with just enough extra material to dress out the invariable cup, twist, crook, etc. It really helps to go to a hardwood dealer who understands how to properly store wood. ( Big box home centers are terrible for this )

I would definitely not want to plane down 2 1/8 to 1 1/4 and not just because of the waste and work. When you remove that much stock from a piece of wood you run the risk of relieving internal stresses that might induce twists, cups and crooks into your previously straight, flat and square wood. When you get down to the dimension you want you might find the piece unusable. Poplar is pretty stable and might tolerate this but avoid the whole problem if you can.

Paul

[DonkeyHody]

The Woodworking Gods will not be pleased if you turn 3/4" of wood into shavings just to get to some arbitrary thickness. You should buy something closer to your final thickness, or glue up two thinner boards, or re-saw to salvage what you can.

DonkeyHody

"Anything that's worth cuttin' down a tree for Is worth doin' right; don't the Lord love a two-by-four?" - Guy Clark in "Carpenter"

[J. Clarke]

Really depends on whether you'd rather sharpen/replace your jointer blades or your planer blades.

If it's narrow enough to go on your jointer then flatten one side with the jointer then plane the other to get the thickness. Take small bites and slow down as you approach the finished dimension--you'll get a cleaner surface in my experience several 1/64" passes than with one 1/16.

[Brian]