thicknessers

[Fred]

Hi,

I sometimes think about getting a thicknesser but I'm confused by all the types out there. I was looking for an entry-level, i.e. budget, machine to test the water. When I looked in the machine mart catalogue a few months back, I saw machines like these:

6 inch: inch: the choice between these two, I guess it's worth going for the 8" machine as it gives you a bit more versatility, 2 inches more to be precise?

Since then, thicknessers seem to have become more common. Even B&Q are selling them now. But the thicknessers I am seeing now are more like this:

can someone tell me the differences, the pros and the cons, of the two types?

The latter accepts wood up to 10", so based on width alone, the last one seems the most versatile but...

I went to MM for something else and asked about thicknessers and they confused me even more! They said that the first type was better because they are planers and thicknessers, whereas the second type is a thicknesser only. Don't you need to plane one side before thicknessing the other?

I'm not too sure how the first type work. The illustrations appear to show wood being planed across the top but how does thicknessing occur? Is there another path through the middle?

MM also sell a 6" planer that does not do thicknessing and it looks very similar:

the body is not as tall, which makes me wonder whether there is something in the middle of the thicknessers that is missing from the planer?

On a slightly different note, when the timber yard thicknessed a floorboard for me, they put the board through "the wrong way round": this way "|" rather than "-" that way. I wouldn't have thought the machines would grip narrow edges very well. Of course they will have machines in a different league to the ones I have linked. What is the smallest piece of wood you could put through a thicknesser?

TIA

[dom]

Very good advice from John, as usual!

What sort of work are you thinking/wanting to do with it?

If it's processing a lot of old floorboards, you may be hoping for a bit too much from a budget machine.

A good planar/thicknesser is an incredibly heavy and well-built thing

- portable thicknessers are aimed more at trim joinery - and most machines struggle as you put timber through approaching their maximum width.

The joy of a planar/thicknesser is that you can true-up any distortions in a piece of timber - a thicknesser will only faithfully copy the twists in the timber down to a thiner version of what went in.

That said, a hand plane - (or even a hand-held power plane if the distortion is dreadful) can be a more efficient tool for attacking the high points in a twisted timber.

The likes of the machines you're looking at will likely be fine if you've plenty of patience to do lots and lots of light cuts (say around 1mm or less per pass) and you're looking at working with odd & interesting bits of timber to make light furniture, or want to make fully custom-sized bits of trim joinery (e.g. around boats).

OTOH if you're looking at a lot of heavier timbers, consider hiring a more substantial machine.

In fact I reckon hiring-before-buying is a good bet anyway with a type of machine you've no experience of. After that you'll know what a good machine should do to make comparisons.

And don't forget John's mention of dust extractors - thicknessers really need them.

[robgraham]

inch:

> > 8 inch:> > Given the choice between these two, I guess it's worth going for the

I would be really sure that you do have adequate use for such a machine - I bought one some years back and really can't justify now what I paid for it. I can't offer you any specific machine related advice. I might be worth your while looking at the Tool Review forum in

Rob

[TMC]

> 8 inch:

> Given the choice between these two, I guess it's worth going for the

> but the body is not as tall, which makes me wonder whether there is

looked at the machine mart stuff but went for the Axminster entry level planer thicknesser (as was quite a bit cheaper than the clarke one at machine mart) and dust collector

don't have a lot of space so the combination machine was the way to go for me

pleased

Only gripe is that blades are a fiddle to set up accurately

but new blades cheap at £18 (missed a bit of embedded nail)

a bit of sniping sometimes but may be me not supporting on the output side

have thicknessed 70mm wide 1 metre long hardwood planks to 6mm thick without problem

regards

[John Rumm]

To be fair, I have used one once without. We had to take the dust collection cowl off it to stop it getting completely clogged up, and it then projected a small snow storm of shavings right across the room! Half a dozen boards later and we were knee deep in it!

[John Rumm]

Some machines come with setting jigs that make this much simpler - but without it is a PITA. IIRC Axminster do a generic setting jig you can get for machines that don't have one.

Something else worth thinking about as well... most machines come with disposable TCT knives similar (but longer) than the ones fitted on a powered hand plane. A few have resharpenable HSS knives. The latter may be cheaper to run in terms of keeping sharp, but it does mean you need a way of getting a decent edge on a 12" long knife.

A couple of roller stands are well worth having IME as well. That way they can collect long stock on the output side and save it having yards of leverage on the last bit left in the machine.