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Planer knives - straight or helical??

Started by boonesyard, February 18, 2020, 10:21:21 AM

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WDH

A sawmill is just an expensive router sled :)
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

caveman

We usually use a sled for the planer but a couple of weeks ago a customer needed several slabs to build a horseshoe shaped bar down near Punta Gorda.  Rather than running them all through the planer multiple times on the planer sled, we skim cut one side flat on the mill as previously advised by YellowHammer.  We will be doing more slabs like that next week.

The hard, dry wood will dull the blade relatively quickly but the time savings and effectiveness is worth the price of admission.  If the blade is not kept in the wood, the blade's set may also be affected.
Caveman

RichTired

Wood-Mizer has this device that will smooth the slab and take out the warp.

https://woodmizer.com/us/SlabMizer-MB200-Slab-Flattener

Might cost a little more than what you have been looking at so far.
Wood-Mizer LT15GO, Kubota L2800, Husqvarna 268 & Stihl 241 C-M chainsaws, Logrite cant hook, Ford F-150 Fx4

Richard

boonesyard

Quote from: RichTired on February 22, 2020, 08:05:49 PM
Wood-Mizer has this device that will smooth the slab and take out the warp.

https://woodmizer.com/us/SlabMizer-MB200-Slab-Flattener

Might cost a little more than what you have been looking at so far.
In a perfect world, the slabmizer would be a great addition, but tough on the budget.  Also, we need a larger planer for some of the other things we do. 
LT50 wide
Riehl Steel Edger
iDRY Standard kiln
BMS 250/BMT 250
JD 4520 w/FEL
Cat TH255 Telehandler
lots of support equipment and not enough time

"I ain't here for a long time, I'm here for a good time"

petefrom bearswamp

Pardon my ignorance.
How do you build a planer sled?
Kubota 8540 tractor, FEL bucket and forks, Farmi winch
Kubota 900 RTV
Polaris 570 Sportsman ATV
3 Huskies 1 gas Echo 1 cordless Echo vintage Homelite super xl12
57 acres of woodland

customsawyer

The best machine I have for what you are doing is a Cantek 30" double surfacer. It is all 3ph and likely out of the budget as well but does awesome on the big slabs.
Two LT70s, Nyle L200 kiln, 4 head Pinheiro planer, 30" double surface Cantek planer, Lucas dedicated slabber, Slabmizer, and enough rolling stock and chainsaws to keep it all running.
www.thecustomsawyer.com

farmfromkansas

About 55 years ago, when I was in school, the boards the school had for use in the shop were some warped, twisted, knarly stuff, and I built projects from them.  They had supposedly been run through a straight-o-plane surfacer.  Was that a similar top and bottom moulding machine?  The boards were not flat at all, but maybe the storage and drying was not so great? 
Most everything I enjoy doing turns out to be work

btulloh

Quote from: petefrom bearswamp on February 24, 2020, 04:00:14 PM
Pardon my ignorance.
How do you build a planer sled?
Probably best to google "planer sled" and see what turns up.  Many different plans and approaches.  
Here's a couple:
https://www.thewoodwhisperer.com/viewer-projects/planer-sled/
https://www.lumberjocks.com/projects/330353
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNg9BV4IF2Q
Basically it is a fixture that holds your work piece in a way that supports any twist or cup on the bottom so when it goes through the planer, the board doesn't deform from the pressure rollers.  It can be simple for one-time use, with just some wedges and such placed to hold the piece as it goes through the planer.  It basically creates an upside down jointer.  It takes a bit of fiddling to get the work piece situated and supported, but after that it's just a matter of running it through until you have one true face.  It's not something you'd use for production, but it's a solution.  After all, getting a twist out of a piece using the jointer is a skill that takes some time to master, and if you don't have a 20" jointer to go along with your twenty inch planer, a sled can come in handy. 
Obviously, the work piece and any supporting devices need to be held firmly so you don't create a wood chucker when it's run through the planer.
HM126

WDH

Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

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