<insert cuss words here> planing timbers

[Engineer]

Short story - three weeks ago the timber framer that was gonna help me build my new house, bailed due to illness (chronic and debilitating - doctor says no physical labor, could be months or years).  

So I got another guy who has a great rep, much younger, has a good crew.  Now he's telling me that he doesn't want to hand plane the timbers, that I need to find a mill that has a planer so he doesn't have to power plane all four sides of 140 pieces.  

So does anybody have any ideas on how I can find a place that has a large planer and can plane my timbers for a reasonable fee?  I've spoken to the only sawmill around that I know has a planer, and he can't handle the size, and couldn't think of anybody who could.  Plus, I'm not too enthusiastic about loading all these danG pieces on a flatbed tractor-trailer and hauling them umpteen miles to get the job done.  This frame's gonna cost me more money than if I had just bought the thing outright from a big framing company.

Or should I just drop the $$$ for something like a 20" wide Grizzly planer and feed one side at a time, and hope they come out somewhat square?  I suppose a bunch of roller or conveyor supports on each side and a few helpers and it might work....

[Gilman]

Engineer,
Sounds to me like you've finally got the justification for that Grizzly spiral cut planer with carbide inserts.  Boy, I wish I had your problem.

You might also want to check out used planers at used equipment stores.  

Makita has a wide portable jointer. I wonder how much these cost?

http://www.makita.com/Tools_Item_View.asp?id=750

Sounds to me like you'd better get Jim's advice.

[Kirk_Allen]

Pick up a re-saw blade ( 1/2" pitch with 2 TPI) and cut them on your mill.  A good re-saw blade will give you a very smooth surface.

Aother option would be a re-saw blade form Lagunau Band Saws.  Re-Saw King Blade?  Its a new blade for band saws but its carbide and leaves a perfectly smooth surface on the wood.  They make them to fit what ever size you want.

Just some thoughts.  Good Luck.

Kirk

[smwwoody]

I have done a few 20 foot 10 X 10's with a cheep portable dewalt planer.  set the beam up on saw horses pick up the running planer and start it over the end of the beam.  let it walk down the beam by its self.  you have to move the horses out of the way as the planer is moveing down the beam.  It worked real good for me but I was only doing 5 10 x 10's.  

Woody

[Buzz-sawyer]

Woody, that is a really great idea!!!

[ADfields]

Woody, how do ya get them square   I was under the impression timber framers did not need true timbers for their scribed and plumb bobed joint work.    
Andy

[smwwoody]

they were square enough when the came off the mill so it was not a worry

Woody

[Jim_Rogers]

I look at this two ways, either spend the money or change timber framers.
It's your frame, if you don't want the timbers planed then don't plane them.
I can teach you how to deal with unplanned timbers. It's called square rule joinery.
If you want planed timbers then plane them.
What ever planer you buy you can sell for almost as much as you paid for it, and write it off as "rent" for using the planer.
Yes, you can buy a bench top planer and plane one side of a timber at a time by letting it "walk" down a timber on a sawhorse.
Or you can buy hand held portable planers.
The only surfaces that need to be planed are the surfaces that will show in the finished frame.
These surfaces don't need to be true and square to the reference face, (if you're using square rule joinery, and housing all your joints).
It's only for looks.
There is a man who has invented a beam planer, in NH. And his has adjustments for planing timbers to try as best you can to true them up. But as mentioned they really don't have to be truly 90° to each other.
If you would like to see his planer, in action, his web page is :http://www.huntertimberframe.com
I've seen it work in person, and it's a nice machine. As soon as I get a job that will pay for it, I'll be getting one for my shop.
Good luck, with your project.
And if you need some help understand square rule joinery, let me know.
Jim Rogers

[raycon]

I cut and pasted the below from another site author did not leave there name.

" Buy a tabletop planer like a Ryobi. Take off all the bottom and sides and you are left with a cutting head, motor and feed rollers. Attach handles in where the bolt holes are in the top of the frame. Drill holes in the bottom edge front and rear to attach a plate front and rear. The planer will cost you about $300 compared to the factory jobs at $3,000. I had mine at a raising comparing it to a factory REPs-- mine was as good or better. On out of square beams with the spring loaded feed rollors, you can apply more pressure to the high edge and true up an unsquare beam. "

--

[Engineer]

Jim,

Both the new framer AND the old framer were going to hand-plane (with a portable power plane) all of the timbers.  The new guy didn't want to deal with the labor, so he suggested I find a mill with a four-sided planer and have it done that way.

Well, I searched around, and found the beam planer at Hunter Timber Frames before you posted.  That's the route I'm going to take.  It'd cost me easily that much to have it done by a mill, and if I do it, I can resell that planer.  You got it.

I'm familiar with square rule, it's the way I learned.  That's the way he'll have to do the work.  'Nuff said.

[Norwiscutter]

The hand held makita planers are pretty nice and would be the way I would go for what you are doing.  I have used a 3 1/2 inch planer to hit each side of the logs I am using on my log building.  They make a 5 inch model that would probably do pretty well on those beams and is a handy tool to have laying around the shop afterwards.  The portable planers serve their purpose... which is to be a job site planer for trim work pretty well... but will really frustrate you if you have a large quantity of roughsawn wood to dimension.  I have a makita portable that is collecting dust because I just bought a powermatic... which is still to small.

[Norwiscutter]

Also, I wouldn't buy a grizzly because of discusions had on this board and others.  Look at Extrema's 20 and 24 inch planers. I haven't scene them in person but they sure look nice.