planing limitations for "thin" wood

I am working on the base for a workbench, and being the stingy guy I am, I purchased a couple of douglas fur 4x4x8 for the legs. The rest of the workbench is red oak dimension lumber and plywood.

The douglas fur, while practical, does not look right next to the red oak stringers. I want to face the pieces with red oak veneer, cut from dimensioned planks. I want to be able to round over the edges when done. So I am thinking that the thinest I should make the facings are 1/4".

Question: Has anyone used a sled in a benchtop planer for really thin pieces of wood? I have seen articles describing this, but wonder if the veneers would simply slide around on the sled. Do I need to use some carpet tape to make sure they do not? Anyone done this before? Please respond ASAP as I would like to do this tomorrow....thanks..

Reply to
C Carruth
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Hello there,

1/4" is not veneer, your planer will have no problems planing that thin without a sled.

What planer do you have? Most will go down to ~1/8" before you need a sled.

Thanks,

David.

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Reply to
David F. Eisan

FWW had an article on cutting your own veneers last issue (or the one before) and it showed planing after cutting to size by sticking them to some melamine with double sided carpet tape. Sounds like it would work pretty well. If you used MDF or something instead the tape would pull parts of the MDF up each time and eventually you'd end up with a non-flat surface, so thus the melamine I would think. Haven't tried it, but should work.

Mike

Reply to
Mike in Idaho

Yeah my old Delta portable - long since made obsolete with cutterhead lock/no-snipe models - goes down to about 1/8".

Would just securing a melamine-type aux. bed (effectively raising the bed in relation to the cutter head) inside the planer serve the same purpose as running a sled through? Would the less than 1/8" wood move through well enough or does it need to be fixed to a sled for support?

Reply to
Fly-by-Night CC

Mike & All, A couple of suggestions . . .

I use something called 'Whiteboard' or 'Tileboard' for my 'drawing' templates. It's about 1/8 in thick with a white 'Melamine-like' surface. Pretty cheap stuff because the surface is some kind of a painted material. For my 'router' templates I use 1/4 in Hardboard; I think of it as 'thin MDF'.

In either case, because I want to use the stuff repeatedly, I will either apply several coats of 'Seal Coat' dewaxed shellac and/or water based Poly to the back. This gives a smooth, hard, surface that will take tape 'ad infinitem'.

Simple, effective, cheap, and relatively quick.

Regards & Good Luck, Ron Magen Backyard Boatshop

Reply to
Ron Magen

The biggest part of using thin woods in a planer is to select them for grain parallel to the faces, and not to plane them thinner than a couple of annual rings. If you do, even with backing, you're asking for trouble.

In any case, if the legs are to be covered, cover 'em, then plane the whole thing.

Reply to
George

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