Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by ChickenboneJohn on January 10, 2011 at 3:00am

I've had an electric planer for ages, and it's handy enough, but to be honest, a bench belt/disc sander (4 x36" belt and a 6" disk) with is a much better tool for doing things such as flatting-off headstocks etc, plus it will do many more jobs, and is around the same price as a decent electric planer. After my pillar drill, the bench sandwer is my other essential power tool.

A hand-held planer like this is actually quite hard to control to get a nice flat surface on small areas like headstocks...it's easy to "snipe" the start and end of the cut and ruin the work...trad. hand planes are better

Also, my hand held planer hasn't had a look-in since getting my SIP 6" bench planer...but a couple of good old-fashioned well-sharpened Record or Stanley planes are great tools...I still use mine all the time.

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Permalink Reply by Mister Scott on January 10, 2011 at 3:35am

Thanks John, all good information. I'm always concerned about powerful handheld tools that are going to be used on small areas... Exactly why I asked here first. Thanks again!

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Permalink Reply by ChickenboneJohn on January 10, 2011 at 3:47am

A handheld planer is a pretty brutal tool really, even with a very small amount of blade projecting, it's very easy to spoil a piece..these days I tend to use mine for rough work..removing a lot of stuff form roughsawn stock.. planing doors, that sort of thing.

 

John

Scotty C. said:

Thanks John, all good information. I'm always concerned about powerful handheld tools that are going to be used on small areas... Exactly why I asked here first. Thanks again!

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Permalink Reply by Mungo Park on January 10, 2011 at 5:25am

As above, you will turn your project to firewood faster than you can say #@$%^&^^&*.

One of these would do the job much better as well as  many more, and you can listen to tunes while you work, never cut your fingers. They can be found at garage sales....... or flea bay has a mountain of them, or just buy a new one. The old ones are better and cost less, might just be my thinking though.  They do take a little tuning up and learning how to use well but no more than any other tools.                    Cheers Ron.

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Permalink Reply by Mister Scott on January 10, 2011 at 5:33am

Hey Ron, I have a bench plane and a block plane. But right now, neither gets much use, as I dont think they had ever been properly honed or sharpened. I'm supposed to be getting a honing guide in the mail today...

 

-sc

Mungo Park said:

As above, you will turn your project to firewood faster than you can say #@$%^&^^&*.

One of these would do the job much better

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Permalink Reply by Mungo Park on January 10, 2011 at 9:07am

Scotty:

 Lots of good info here, I will look up some specifics for you if you need them. Lots of poeople have asked how to sharpen/tune up their planes.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/forumdisplay.php?4-Neanderthal-Haven

 

 You can e mail me at rpetley1@gmail.com.

 

 A well tuned plane will do wonders for your build, with the 2 you have you are already half way their.

                                                              Cheers Ron.

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Permalink Reply by MichaelS Country Boy Guitars on January 10, 2011 at 12:04pm

Use the hand planers Scotty, they work great when honed nice and sharp. I have a small stanley my dad gave me when I was a kid, still works well as long as I keep it sharp. I've also used the power planer when I wanted to take off a lot fast, and still used the hand plane to finish it.

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Permalink Reply by Mister Scott on January 10, 2011 at 1:28pm

Thanks for the advice, guys. The only thing standing in the way of having "scary sharp" planes and spokeshaves right now is the money I'd need to drop on whetstones...  :-(

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Permalink Reply by Mungo Park on January 10, 2011 at 4:32pm

You can use  sandpaper until you get stones, you can buy the high grit stone first and use sandpaper until you get another one. The stones are $$$ but they do last a really long time, your grandchildren will be using them, hopefully not for a door stop. The money you don't spend on the electric planer can be put towards stones.                                                 Cheers Ron.

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Permalink Reply by Mister Scott on January 11, 2011 at 7:45am

Update: the Robert Larson Honing Guide arrived. @ home, I have 400, 600, 800, and 1500 grit sand paper. So tonight, I'll be testing it out with a low-end spokeshave blade.

Also, I found this at one of the web sites I frequent: http://www.widgetsupply.com/page/WS/PROD/sculpting-tools/SHB3-SS1000 ... Seems like a decent stand-in/practice stone so that I can acclimate myself before I spend decent money on a real whet stone.

Mungo Park said:

You can use  sandpaper until you get stones, you can buy the high grit stone first and use sandpaper until you get another one. The stones are $$$ but they do last a really long time, your grandchildren will be using them, hopefully not for a door stop. The money you don't spend on the electric planer can be put towards stones.                                                 Cheers Ron.

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Permalink Reply by MichaelS Country Boy Guitars on January 11, 2011 at 9:25am

I use a cheap 2 sided stone I got at a flea market years ago, no guide just free hand it. A nicer stone would be nice, but any stone should be better than none. If you have a really flat surface the sandpaper you have should be fine. You will be planing in no time.

Scotty C. said:

Update: the Robert Larson Honing Guide arrived. @ home, I have 400, 600, 800, and 1500 grit sand paper. So tonight, I'll be testing it out with a low-end spokeshave blade.

Also, I found this at one of the web sites I frequent: http://www.widgetsupply.com/page/WS/PROD/sculpting-tools/SHB3-SS1000 ... Seems like a decent stand-in/practice stone so that I can acclimate myself before I spend decent money on a real whet stone.

Mungo Park said:

You can use  sandpaper until you get stones, you can buy the high grit stone first and use sandpaper until you get another one. The stones are $$$ but they do last a really long time, your grandchildren will be using them, hopefully not for a door stop. The money you don't spend on the electric planer can be put towards stones.                                                 Cheers Ron.

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Permalink Reply by Mungo Park on January 11, 2011 at 9:59am

Well tell us how it goes.    Remember to do the back of the blade as well, this only has to really be done once in a while.        Cheers Ron.

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