Router for finishing slabs?

[Ianab]

I have been cutting some Mac cypress slabs that are now drying in the shed. They have been cut to 3 inch thick and once they are dry I want to mill them down to a smooth surface for bar / table / coffee-table tops. Now it has been mentioned in other posts that you can do this with a jig between 2 straight boards, but I think it would be easier to build a rig under the Peterson frame and use the rails and winch.
Back to my question.. whats the best router for this?
Obviously it need to be a serious bit of machinery to go hacking into a 12 ft long bartop
I've been offered a Makita 3612C and a DeWalt DW625E-XE as options. Any comments or alternative suggestion?

Ian

[HORSELOGGER]

lan , what if you tried to fabricate a way to mount a small portable planer head or a jointer head to the saw arbor? I think Lou Brown ( ex Peterson agent in Canada and very inovative guy) had an option available for a set up like that. His web site is still up. Do a google search and pull it up.

[sawwood]

 Lan i use Porter Cables 3 1/4 HP 7518 and the 7539
 plunge routers. They have good power and can run
 for extended time. I would think it would be best to just
 make two runners to set on each side of the slab then
 make a platfourm to hold the router accross the runners.
 Using a dado bit in the router to plane the slab smooth.
 I will look in my magazines i know i have see this setup
 if you would like.

 Sawwood

[Brian_Bailey]

I would be hestitant in using a planer head without a pressure bar. I think you would get a lot of tear out as the grain reverses in the plank surface.

If you enjoy noise and lots of dust, I would opt the router route ( funny how one letter removed, will change the entire meaning of a word   ).

Since you asked for alt.suggestions.
I would (being a neander) use hand tools.  
Use a pair of winding sticks, a scub plane, and a # 7 jointer plane to do the bull work.
Then finish off with a # 4 1/2 smoothing plane and card scraper.
You'll end up with a finished surface that no machine can match.
When you finally rub out the finish, the severed wood fibers will glisten under the finish rather than look dull from being abraded by sanding.

If your going to do a lot of planks, to speed things along I would go with the router, than finish off with the hand tools.

[Tracy]

Yeah but who's gonna teach him to sharpen the blade and polish the back of it also. Then fit the chip breaker, set the throat and flatten the sole, check the bed and to read the grain?. He might even learn how to use  212 scraper but it would have that cut finnish glow that makes even dull wood look good. It also can give an arobic workout and buff up the body to. Hand tools are great to work with!
When we built our log home I hand planed every beam, post and wall log. I was in real good shape when that was going on.

[Ianab]

Thanks for the ideas guys  
I dont think I'll be going down the handtool path, well at least not till I get to the final finishing. I had thought about the 2 planks and mounting the router as sawwood suggested, but some of the slabs are pretty big. And I've got the mill frame, rails etc. The idea of mounting a cutter on the saw arbour is intersting, I'll have an investigate of that one.
This is one of the slabs

My handplane skills aren't quite up to the standard needed for that puppy. And if I didn't like noise and dust what am I doing with a sawmill  :D

Cheers
    Ian

[Brian_Bailey]

Ianab,  

That's a nice looking chunk of wood. Wish it were mine  .

Since hand planes are out,here is a link to a cutter that might be worth looking into.
It's width of cut is 2 3/4"

http://shop.woodcraft.com/Woodcraft/product_family.asp?family%5Fid=3189&gift=False&mscssid=0B38F38551E1044EF9F7E272DB6DFBE7

I wouldn't think it wood be to difficult rig something up so you could use the stability of your mill frame to keep the cutter tracking true. Just a thought  :P.

Tracy,

Whats you talking all that fettling stuff for ?
You might scare a potential neander from a true calling  :D :D.
Yes, #212's definately have a learning curve  ;).

[LeeB]

MAybe a hand held power planer and a jig using your mills rails? LeeB

[Swing_blade_Andy]

Ianab

Yeh mate I've done and it works great.

I butchered an old slabbing bar mount plate from the Lucas and got an engineer to precision weld a toupe chuck onto it. You then just  fit the plate in the usual way with 5 bolts and lock nuts and then fit a mother of a router bit - I use 3/4" shank.

Then youv'e got a 25hp router. Don't bother your ass with a little electric hand tool. I been through that and it too slow.Its also hard on the router and it'll burn in no time.

Incidentailly after the routing (flattening) I use a floor sander to sand and polish.

Makes tables, desks, bars and lots more. Did a solid 40' spalted beech bar top for a pub in Dublin. Still there I think. weighed 1.3 tons. Must go in an get a pic one day - maybe have a beer...

Good job you got - I really like cutting Mac except for the bark inclusions.

Andrew

[Furby]

Go to this link:
Baileys
Look for portable sawmills.
Under that look for Lucas mill parts & accessories.
Then look at the Lucas slab surfacer and the slab surfacer accessories.
Is that close to what you want to make?

Or take a look at this link: Wood Wizz

[IMERC]

Ianab

The Bosch series of routers have been some outstanding equipment for me. Last a long time. Work great. Don't mind abuse. Good for the mile. Bosch has outlasted all other brands that I have owned with the least amout of problems and needing of repairs. Some of my Bosch's have been living a life of misery for more than 25 years.
Can I sugest the 1619EVS.
Here's a link to the web page.

 http://www.boschtools.com/homepage.htm

[sawmillsi]

hi ian,

petersons and us (mullumbimby woodworks - australian agents) have a solution to your problem, actually two solutions.

1. planer head -

this was developed by both stan ceglinski and carl peterson to machine level, straight and smooth large peices of timber (slabs etc...) on your existing machine.

it is in essence a big router head that attches to your mill in place of a sawblade.

we sell one to most mill owners in australia, especially those who do any kind of slab work.

2. super surfacer - no pics yet, but developed by stan ceglinski using the latest tunsten carbide abrasive technology. it has two grades of abrasive, one on the outer edge (to rough off any movement, warping etc...) and a finer grade on the raised inner section.

this leads to a perfect sanded finish.

with both options there has to be a good solid work surface (we use an old log with the top and bottom taken off), when its under the mill its surfaced to ensure the finished product will be square. then the job is fastened to the bed log ( we screw the peice on, at both ends, through the end on an angle - nailing would suffice). then go for it. if the slab has a twist in it, we use a small wedge to hold the corner up so it can machined true.

the secret is to shim the blade flat (so there is no lead in - left and right). we use an old coke can or similar and just fold the aluminium over until its just right.

both of these can be made to fit lucas or peterson - just tell us the model #/details so we can have the correct hole pattern drilled.

[Kedwards]

I like that router head. I have a Lucas 618 and would be interested in one. Thanks.

[Frank_Pender]

Sawmillsi, will that unit attatch to the same sort or unit that the dedicated slabber bar sprocket attatches to for the Lucas?  If so, I would too would be interested in the price.

[sawmillsi]

Hi guys,

The attachments I have spoken about are to fit onto a swing type mill. The blade comes off and either the planer head or super surfacer is put on in its place.

If you have a dedicated slabber (dosn't matter what brand but the Peterson DWS will out perform the Lucas about 3 to 1) it won't work.

The planer head is $1000 AUD and the super surfacer is $850 AUD. Check the exchange rate at your end.

If you are interested, email me at woodwork@mullum.com.au and I'll organise a quote for freight.