Great Day in the Shop

[dougtrr2]

Yesterday was a great day in the shop.  I just finished refurbishing an Oliver 18" direct drive planer and put it through its paces.


 

On Labor Day weekend, 2019, I had DPatton come by and milled some oak and walnut.
Re: Whatcha Sawin' 2019


 



 

Yesterday I finally was able to plane a little of it.  I had never dealt with rough sawn lumber before and was a little aprehensive as to the final outcome.  Specifically, even though the lumber looked good coming off the mill, I wasn't sure whether I would be able to get my standard 3/4" wood out of it.

The few pieces I ran through the planer exceeded my expectations.  I would take a light pass to see what shape the board was in.  Very little skip and miss. A 1/16" off per side and I had smooth lumber from edge to edge.  I will easily get my 3/4" thickness and I think 7/8" is definitely possible, and maybe even some full 1" stuff.  Bringing in a portable sawmill was one of the best things I have done in my woodworking journey.

One minor hiccup.  I elected to cut all my logs to  9' to simplify the stacking and stickering. At 9' I have to stack them in my basement shop between the floor joists.  Oops.  

Doug in SW IA

[DonW]

I'm wondering where the chips go coming off the planer. By the way, beautiful machine. 

[Dan_Shade]

Very nice machine 

[dougtrr2]

I'm wondering where the chips go coming off the planer. By the way, beautiful machine.

To the floor. It came with a home grown dust collection hood but I do not have a dust collector.... yet.
Doug in SW IA

[farmfromkansas]

Do you have a jointer? I run my boards through the jointer so they are flat before putting them through the planer.  Nice planer.  Watch the craigslist and other ads, I got a 3hp cyclone DC from a juco on nextech classifieds.  

[dougtrr2]

I have a 6" Powermatic long bed.  I don't have the space or inclination to get an 18" jointer to match my planer.  That is why I was so pleased that this lumber is already very straight.  A majority of the lumber is wider that 6", in fact the oak tree I dropped was so straight that all the oak lumber is 10" or wider.  

I did poach that planer from Whitewater, Kansas. 

Doug in SW IA

[metalspinner]

You mentioned hiring a sawyer was the best thing for your woodworking. 

I agree! For me the best part of cutting your own wood is book matching, color matching, figure matching, wide boards, thick boards, and a seemingly unlimited supply of all the above! :D 
Oh, and of course, making friends with your sawyers, saving resources which would otherwise be dumped, and saving vast sums of money to retail lumber. 
Yep, hiring a sawyer is the best thing you can do for your woodworking. 

Now, let's have a closer look at that Oliver.  ;)
I've got a lead on a direct drive Oliver jointer 16". And I'm curious about the cutting head? In your restoration, did you get into that assembly? Is the cutter head replaceable?

[dougtrr2]

My planer is a 1943 model and I tore it completely down.  The cutter head on my planer is NOT replaceable.  When they say direct drive they mean direct drive.  I have a solid piece of steel that runs from one end of the planer to the other.  It actually looks like they took a solid piece of 3 1/2" steel and turned the ends down to for the motor shaft on one end and the roller drive on the other.  There are milling marks for the knife slots that extend past the end of the cutter head.  

Eagle Machinery is a good source of information.  They took over the Oliver brand.
Eagle Machineryhttp://www.eaglemachinery-repair.com

Doug in SW IA