flattening big slabs

[andy Needles]

Hello all,

Thanks in advance for all of your expertise. So, if you are poor, and have lots of big slabs of air dried walnut for table tops, what is the best way of flattening them out. Should I:

Invest in a Makita 1806B monster hand held palner and hand cut them. The slabs can Weigh 100lbs+, so why shlep them around?

Find a new good friend with a timesaver? How much does it cost usually, and do cabinetmakers entertain such jobs?

Any other ideas?

Thank you!

[Vaughn McMillan]

If you're not in too big of hurry, a router bridge could do the job. You'd still have some sanding to do, but it's a good start and it's inexpensive.

Here's a thread showing the basics, on a bit smaller scale than you're talking about:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=30316

HTH -

- Vaughn

[Chris Barton]

There are lots of "depends" in this question. So, I am assuming that these slabs are bigger than 12" wide and generally in the size and shape you want to use in the finished project. Option 1; get a good jack plane or larger, some winding sticks and start planing. Option 2; find some one with a timesaver and offer to pay for a new belt in place of a few passes through their machine (similar offer can be made to someone like me that has a Proformax 22/44). Option 3; make friends with someone at a very large cabinet shop that would have some serious heavy metal and pay them to take your lumber to s4s. The last is the one that makes most sense to me but, it the one that people do least. They don't want to take the time to go through all the moves to get to the finished project but, if done right it has the greatest pay off. Option 3 introduces you to a new friend that may have some nice scraps (what he considers scraps) that you can use and a resource for future help.

[Keith Outten]

Another option;

Find someone in your area with a CNC Router. A four by eight foot panel can be surfaced two sides perfectly flat in under 20 minutes.

.

[Jim Becker]

Router bridge is the the cheapest.

[Mark Singer]

On big slabs the edge jointing can be done with a router and a straight edge as a guide. After glue up , flaten the slab with hand planes a #80 scraper. Or a powerful hand sander like a Festool Rotex starting with 50 grit...Or a belt sander. I have a friend about 5 miles away with a large Cemco 52" wide belt....$25 min and $1 a minute...In large table is usually $50. You would be surprised how much you can do yourself in an hour in your own shop though.

[Ian Abraham]

The router bridge works well.
The problem with hand held tools if that you have to be pretty skilled to get the top really flat, especially if the slabs have bowed or cupped while drying.
This is my version of the router bridge. I have the portable sawmill's frame and rails to mount the router on which makes life a lot easier / cheaper. You can build something yourself out of plywood with a couple of straight boards for rails that will work as well. After you get the surface flat and true then break out the belt sander and carefully take out the machining marks. Then sand or scrape to the desired finish.
It's a manual version of Keiths CNC Router, I might call it a PCC Router (Person Controlled Cutting)
Last pic is the breakfast bar finished and installed in the corner of my kitchen.

Cheers

Ian

[Roger Everett]

Finding a shop with a widebelt sander would be the easy way out, although it might cost a bit of coin. But I would prefer to wip up a router bridge set-up, then you've done it all yourself, I like that part. If you go that way, be sure and shim up ( if needed ) and lock down the slab, to prevent any movement.
By the way , Ian, That is a sharp looking slab for your breakfest bar. I like the natural edge.
Roger

[Per Swenson]

Hello all,

So I am up at Condon Lumber Co. in Yonkers NY,

a while back spending a fortune on Honduras Mahogany plywood.

We go to this lonely building down the street to inspect the good stuff.

Inside, not only was there enough Honduras Ply to send all of

Green Peace into fits of hysteria, but huge slabs, I 'am talkin,

5' x 11', 5' x 14' slabs of Bubinga. I says to myself and the

sales man, I'll take em!

Of course they were special ordered and sold.

This did not end the conversation though.

The guy who bought them apparently would just come

to the lonely little building with a really good floor sanding man,

sand em right there then load 'em on his truck.

I thought that was kinda neat.

Per

[William Bachtel]

Wide belt is one way, lots of cabinet shops will do it, yellow pages. Call woodmizer (l-800-525-8100) and have a bandsaw do it, the right sawyer can cut l/l6 of an inch or more to flaten one side or both sides. Router seems like a lot of work. Drumsander will do it to. It also can be done witha chainsaw jig. and a straight board, I have done that and it works. CNC sounds like the way to go. There are more ways to do this, but I can't think to goood now. You are doing one thing right, that is asking the right people they are a lot of help here.