Milling Alternatives

[Bobby O'Neal]

Brand new to the boards, and I love what is going on here. Also very new to woodworking. Have done just a few small projects, the most challenging being a toddler bed for my daughter. In the process of saving up for a jointer and planer, I'm learning alot and reading about other methods of milling. My question is, with the principle behind making a sled (for a router) to flatten one face compared to using a hand plane to do it, could you not also just use the flat plane of the router base? How is the flat reference of a plane going to respond differently than that of the router base? Thanks all...looking forward to learning more.

Bobby O'Neal

[Alan Schwabacher]

I'm not sure I understand how you would use a flat router base to lead to a flat surface of a board. Part of the difficulty is that the router base is much smaller than most boards I would want to flatten, so it can ride up and down the hills and valleys of the board.

A router can be used to flatten a large surface, as described by Tage Frid in his valuable books, and on the Highland website:
http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/flattenaworkbenchwitharouter.aspx

A planer sled does not help with something so large as a workbench top, but is much faster and more convenient. It works by having a flat surface upon which the work is stably placed, so that as it moves through the planer the workpiece does not curve or twist in its path, so the cutterhead makes a flat surface.

[Bobby O'Neal]

I get that the router base is much smaller than the board you'd cover but isn't the base of a planer also much smaller? I'm asking this out of complete ignorance as I've not had much experience with hand planes. I don't fully understand how a hand plane gets something totally flat, I suppose. Doesn't the blade just grab (cut) any surfaces that oppose its flat surroundings, being the iron base of the plane? Or am I underestimating the size of the plane in relationship to the board you'd be working?

[Glen Butler]

Neanders should probably chime in on this, but there are several sizes of hand-planes and they get quite long - over 22" - these longer planes are called joint planes. These are used for surfacing a board flat, and are long enough to not follow every contour of the wood, but will skip off the high parts. Straight edges can also be used for referencing which areas need to be worked.

I have never heard of someone using a router for surfacing a board. You may be referencing people using a router for edge jointing. They basically turn the fence into a jointer by shimming out the outfeed side of a straight bit.

[Bobby O'Neal]

Right, I've seen the edge jointing with a router. I've also seen sleds made for using a router to flatten a face. I know the WoodWhisperer video called "The Jointer's Jumpin'" demos it. I'm just not sure I fully understand all the details of hows it works. I'm picturing a thickness planer as a device with a blade pattern that is wider than the board you're sending through it. And with a flat underside as a reference, it takes off anything between that flat reference and the desired height set. Anything smaller, in my mind, could "possibly" find some highs and lows to ride in, though the idea of a joint plane being 22" or bigger does make things more clear. In that case, would you also have to go back and hit some spots with a sander or smaller plane for accuracy?

[Harlan Coverdale]

In that case, would you also have to go back and hit some spots with a sander or smaller plane for accuracy?

Generally, no. You would just continue working away at the high spots until the whole board surface was flat. As the high spots get closer and closer to the level of the low spots, the plane will shave away bigger (longer and wider, not deeper) bites of wood. Getting the face of a board truly flat with a hand plane takes a combination of skill, practice and patience, with a fair amount of checking and rechecking as you go.

[Rick Markham]

Here's a Lie Nielsen no. 8 Jointer plane, it's 22" long. The pack of cigarettes is a good size reference ;)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v295/Rick357/008-1.jpg

[Steve Jenkins]

i just finished flattening a 35x100x3" thick slab of bigleaf maple with a router. I made a simple bridge out of 2 pieces of aluminum angle screwed to two plywood fences. the fences were just high enough so the angle cleared the thickness of the slab. I shimmed the slab on my bench so it wouldn't rock, chucked up a 1-1/2" diameter bit in the router and many passes later I had two reasonably flat faces. I think I spent about two hours total. One on each face.