Wide Belt Sander Help in Denver

[Bob Coleman]

I have a ~15" wide very curly rough cherry plank I'm turning into a headboard. Does anyone know of a place in Denver with a Timesaver or similar that would be willing to flatten and thickness it?

Plan B is to flatten by hand, run it through the planer, then spend a lot of time with a scrape and sandpaper to get rid of the tear out.

Thanks in advance!

[Steve Jenkins]

I'd look in the yellow pages for cabinet shops and make a few phone calls

[Martin Wasner]

A wide belt acts like a planer and doesn't flatten very well. If it's straight, but has a cup, you can usually get the cup out, but you'll still likely end up with some twist to the board. If it's already twisted, or looks like a fettuccini noodle, it won't do you much good. One side needs to be flat and straight to make the other side as such.

Unless your just talking rough, then yeah, abrasives are the way to go.

What Steve says is the ticket in my opinion.

[Scott Snyder]

you might try Austin Hardwoods - i believe they rent space on a drum sander

[John McBride]

Yes, Austin is capable of doing this for you, but I am not a fan. Try Denver Woodworking. Ask for Charlie. Top shelf guy, and reasonable rates to use his wide belt. I prefer to support old, small, customer service oriented shops. Austin seems to me to be less than interested in helping anyone who is not purchasing more than Timesaver time or lumber by the unit. YMMV

[Scott Snyder]

Yes, Austin is capable of doing this for you, but I am not a fan. Try Denver Woodworking. Ask for Charlie. Top shelf guy, and reasonable rates to use his wide belt. I prefer to support old, small, customer service oriented shops. Austin seems to me to be less than interested in helping anyone who is not purchasing more than Timesaver time or lumber by the unit. YMMV

good to know. thanks. scott

[Bob Coleman]

Thanks for the info guys. I flattened (ish) one side by hand, then decided to see what my planer did to it. Turns out it planed really well! But I'll file this away for next time.

PS - my experience with Austin has generally been good. They haven't dedicated someone to help me get my four boards, but they'll pull whatever I want, let me rummage through an entire stack, etc no problem.

[Mark Blatter]

There was a small cabinet shop in northern Denver I used about four years ago. They were about a half mile south of I-25 and over towards Aurora. They ran the top to a dresser I had made for me. They had a 36" wide belt sander.