Woodhaven Planing Sled - Reviews?

[andrew whicker]

Hi All,

Title says it all. Looking for reviews on the Woodhaven Planing Sled. I'm doing a slab project (3" thick, 8 ft long, 20 inches wide out of walnut with live edges).

Curious what everyone thinks of these kits as opposed to making your own. I'm in somewhat of a time crunch, so prefer to buy over make if the tool is quality enough that I'll use it in the future. If it can't pay itself off though...

I currently take my slabs to a team that has a 16" jointer, but these boards are wider than that. I might be saving some money long term. Or maybe I just simply don't use slabs wider than 16".

[Ted Calver]

I bought one but never used it. Ended up building my own. The Woodhaven was well built and would do the job, but I had an eye on bigger slabs. Still sitting on the shelf.

[andrew whicker]

Thanks.

I did some more research and the sleds do look super easy to make. This time around, I'm going to be wasteful and get everything below 16" wide and send to the woodshop. Next time I will try the sled thing.

[Bill Nixon]

Ted, any interest in selling the Woodhaven planing sled? Thanks, Bill!

[Jim Becker]

I watched a river table video recently where they have the Woodpeckers sled ("slab flattening mill")...a premium solution, but wow...very nice. But a much larger investment than the Woodhaven. The idea between either is very nice and using the aluminum rails makes for a nice setup over building a wooden one.

[Tom M King]

There is always this:

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

[Ted Calver]

Ted, any interest in selling the Woodhaven planing sled? Thanks, Bill!

Bill, I might, if I can find all the pieces. I'll see if they are within reach.

[George Makra]

I have the Woodpecker slab flattening mill. It is a nicely built piece of equipment and does do what it says it will do.

The downsides are as follows it is a slow way to flatten a slab.

The dust collection attachment is worthless and chips get everywhere.

You will have to deal with swirl marks on the slab even with a new cutter.

I run the Milwaukee 3 hp router and it will get hot and shut down in thermal overload.

You can figure a 30 inch by 6 by slab can take a long day to flatten both sides.

[Ted Calver]

You can always build your own out of wood, or metal. Mine uses 80/20 extrusions and Harbor Freight trailer jacks. I move the whole thing onto the driveway, level it off using the trailer jacks and go to town. It also doubles as a chainsaw mill. Presently good for 28" x 7'. Clean up using the leaf blower :D
422758,422760,422762,422763

[richard poitras]

You can always build your own out of wood, or metal. Mine uses 80/20 extrusions and Harbor Freight trailer jacks. I move the whole thing onto the driveway, level it off using the trailer jacks and go to town. It also doubles as a chainsaw mill. Presently good for 28" x 7'. Clean up using the leaf blower :D
422758,422760,422762,422763

Ted that's a nice set up ...

[Jim Becker]

Ted, that's a great idea, especially for those of us who can't accommodate a large slab option in our shops. Aside from the blowing debris, the driveway is an excellent place to do this work. For me, it's also a "hindsight is golden moment as I "shoulda" bought the 8' long CNC machine instead of the 4' long machine to be able to handle this very thing. Fortunately, one of my local lumber suppliers has a Lucas Mill setup that is routinely used for slab flattening...it was used for that big NA table I have in Woodworking Projects.

[Ted Calver]

... Fortunately, one of my local lumber suppliers has a Lucas Mill setup that is routinely used for slab flattening...it was used for that big NA table I have in Woodworking Projects.

That's the way to do it! No such luck around here.

[Jim Becker]

That's the way to do it! No such luck around here.

Sometimes you can get lucky and get "friendly" with some local cabinet shop or other operation that has a bigger tool for those special projects. John, the owner of Bucks County Hardwoods, is like that for a number of local customers. He charges a nominal fee for the wide drum sander service I've used and a reasonable fee for slab flattening. That recent natural edge walnut table top I have in the Woodworking Projects forum couldn't have happened without having John flatten and thickness the 9' long (cut down from 11'...) by ~24" wide rough slabs for the client and I.

[Tom Bender]

Any recommendations on a planing bit?

[Jim Becker]

Any recommendations on a planing bit?

I use an Amana insert type bit in my CNC for this kind of work...higher cost initially, but less cost over time than replacing regular braised cutters. Leveling slabs is hard work on the cutters. Since this is still a "hand held" operations (despite the sled, etc.) I don't recommend anything over 2" in diameter. The bite can really exert some force.

[Al Launier]

You can always build your own out of wood, or metal. Mine uses 80/20 extrusions and Harbor Freight trailer jacks. I move the whole thing onto the driveway, level it off using the trailer jacks and go to town. It also doubles as a chainsaw mill. Presently good for 28" x 7'. Clean up using the leaf blower :D
422758,422760,422762,422763

Ted, what a great set-up! Very thoughtful design indeed!
A couple things that I was concerned about when I read the OP's post, and which you have taken care of, was whether the OP was going to joint the wooden rails and how he would set-up the slap to optimize the minimum amount of material to remove to flatten the surface. You've obviously taken both into account.
Well done.

[Tony Shea]

Ted, great setup. My only question is about the long unsupported length of extrusion. Do you not end up with any sag in that extrusion when in use, especially when the chainsaw is hooked up? I love the idea.

[Ted Calver]

Thanks guys, and apologies to Andrew for the thread drift, but I guess the sled info is still relevant. I agree with Jim on keeping the bit diameter in the 2" range. The carbide insert type is on my list when my present bit gets too beat up.

This sled is a continuing evolution of one I built back in 2015 (https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?226811-Router-Planer-Sled&highlight=). Recent changes added the trailer jacks and the chain saw mill (CSM) capability. The 80/20 extrusions are pricey but pretty versatile. The thought process wasn't totally smooth. Neighbors were offering me yard tree sections for bowl turning and some of it, like the cherry crotch pieces shown above, was beautiful. Another neighbor has a firewood business and a lot of the free logs were going to him. I hate to see beautiful wood turned into firewood, so I ordered a Granberg 36" Alaskan mill to see if I could take advantage of some of the free wood and create some lumber on a small scale for personal use.

The Granberg mill needs a straight platform on top of the log to make the first cut and then the mill rides on the flat surface created by the first cut and the platform is removed. Many people use an aluminum ladder for this purpose, but not having one, I remembered the 80/20 extrusions from the router sled. This is the first iteration of the CSM. Adding the trailer jacks from Harbor Freight give it mobility and about 10" of vertical adjustment. The mill itself has about a foot of vertical adjustment. This means the CSM continues to ride the extrusions for every cut rather than riding on the surface of the log, so accidental waves in the surface of the log don't get duplicated. I really hadn't thought the process through and was only trying to replicate the straight line the aluminum ladder would create, so I made the frame narrow. The first few slabs were cut with this narrow rig:

422925.

Then the light bulb came on and I realized they still needed flattening, so I widened the rig back to original router planer sled width. Future plans call for adding extensions to make the rig even wider and longer. That means putting a 42 inch bar on the Stihl MS661 (or getting a dual headed bar and adding my Stihl MS460 on the other end). I would also configure the router sled to work on the wider rig...maybe add some linear bearings to smooth the ride.

The coolest application I've seen of the aluminum extrusion based router planer sled is from this (https://www.takeonetoo.com/) British company. No affiliation.