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Old school vs electric hand planers

Started by Jaket123, January 09, 2016, 08:07:48 PM

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yukon cornelius

good topic here! I used my bosch electric a few times but it left unwanted ridges. I will try the pattern tule peak put on. I personally like to leave some mill marks and some imperfections. I don't make fine furniture items though. I know there will come a day when I want a better surface so maybe a bit of practice and learning I will get there.
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tule peak timber

A couple of guys have brought up the point that a whole lot of light passes are more desirable with a shallow setting on the planner. I too use a large boat grinder to massage the milling marks prior to sanding. For final sanding I use a Surcare sander to take the slab to 220 grit prior to sealing. Depending on how bad the slab is I can usually get-er-done in a few hours.Rob

  
persistence personified - never let up , never let down

gfadvm

Rob, Thanks for the diagram. I need to revisit this technique after resetting my planer to take much shallower cuts. That Surcare sander looks like a VERY useful tool! But probably out of my budget.

tule peak timber

Don't forget to also use a straight edge (6 foot) and white chalk to keep checking yourself. Personally I'm more interested in speed so the electric planer usually leaves a million little parallel milling marks that get removed later. Remember that this is a technique of bringing the tool to the wood-because the wood is too big to run through your other tools.If you can bring the wood to the tool, that is a better way to go. Cheers Rob 
persistence personified - never let up , never let down

Jaket123

Thanks for all the comments guys. I believe I'm going to purchase one but I'm still on the look out for std hand planes. Why settle... Just buy them both ha. Thanks again guys
Just cause...

Jaket123

After considering all my options I actually made a decision and bought a set of hand planes and a 4x24 large hand belt sander. And maybe down the road purchase a large planer.
Just cause...

Larry

I sometimes will flatten a slab with a Porter-Cable 4 X 24 belt sander with 36 grit belts.  Use a similar pattern as tpt drew and put a bunch of squiggly pencil lines on the slab to show progress and how flat I'm getting.  It does take a bit of practice

If its faster to drive to somebody with a wide belt sander I will go that way.  I had a shop that had a reasonable rental rate but they went out of business.
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Don_Papenburg

Do all four of the disk pads spin as the pad frame turns ? Have you repowered any of the neat tools ALA Tim the Toolman ?   well maybe  not as crazy.
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tule peak timber

Don , the pads are fixed to the backer -which random orbits as a whole.This "hand tool" sander weighs about 60 pounds. I do have several shapers that are modified "Tim the tool man " style....Rob

 
persistence personified - never let up , never let down

Dodgy Loner

Quote from: Jaket123 on January 10, 2016, 01:52:08 PM
After considering all my options I actually made a decision and bought a set of hand planes and a 4x24 large hand belt sander. And maybe down the road purchase a large planer.

You won't regret the hand planes. They're so versatile, I have about five that I use all the time. What kind did you get/are you getting? Vintage or new?

If I had to flatten big slabs like tule peak timber, I would definitely own an electric planer, but that's just not the sort of thing I'm into, so it wouldn't see much use in my shop. I do have a 3x21 belt sander, but I use it mostly for metalworking.
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Jaket123

I purchased a cheeper set on Amazon but I got to looking and I think I'm going to slowly gravitate to the vintage stuff if I can keep my eye out and find some here and there. But these cheep ones should get the job done.
Just cause...

Just Me

Quote from: Darrel on January 09, 2016, 08:56:41 PM
The electric plane will only be marginally faster than a good sharp well tuned hand plane and it won't do as nice a job.  Add on top of that fact that the electric makes dust and a heluva lot of noise and I'll take a hand plane any day, even for a door edge.

I have to disagree. Part of what I do for a living is make doors. When they are ready to hinge I do not grab a hand plane, I go get my Porter Cable door plane with an adjustable fence and spiral cutter, set the door in a door horse, and put the bevel on the door. Perfect every time, absolutely no tearout, and ready for hardware.

I have a nice collection of hand planes, and use them when they are the best tool for the job. Just like hand planes there are several types and quality of electric planes, and so I use whatever is the best at the time.

Besides, I'm old and my worn out shoulders do not like hand planes so much any more. ;D

Darrel

Quote from: Just Me on January 12, 2016, 04:16:12 PM
Quote from: Darrel on January 09, 2016, 08:56:41 PM
The electric plane will only be marginally faster than a good sharp well tuned hand plane and it won't do as nice a job.  Add on top of that fact that the electric makes dust and a heluva lot of noise and I'll take a hand plane any day, even for a door edge.

I have to disagree. Part of what I do for a living is make doors. When they are ready to hinge I do not grab a hand plane, I go get my Porter Cable door plane with an adjustable fence and spiral cutter, set the door in a door horse, and put the bevel on the door. Perfect every time, absolutely no tearout, and ready for hardware.

I have a nice collection of hand planes, and use them when they are the best tool for the job. Just like hand planes there are several types and quality of electric planes, and so I use whatever is the best at the time.

Besides, I'm old and my worn out shoulders do not like hand planes so much any more. ;D

I try to keep an open mind, and I've read enough on this thread that I'm wanting to give electric planes a second chance.  Besides, I'm not super young anymore and I also have shoulders that don't like hand planes   ;D
1992 LT40HD

If I don't pick myself up by my own bootstraps, nobody else will.

ScottAR

What he said.  ;)

I originally bought mine to fit doors as I had a whole house worth to do.  I fit them to size or sometimes re-bevel one that's wrong for my needs.  I do ease the edges with a hand block plane afterward. 

Power plane is not a tool you will likely need everyday but a really handy one to have in the arsenal.   
Scott
"There is much that I need to do, even more that I want to do, and even less that I can do."
[Magicman]

Just Me

 If I could only have one electric plane, it would probably be the Bosch. The best I ever had for a general use electric was a Porter Cable I bought in the seventies. It had a huge knob that controlled cut and also doubled as the handle. This is important to me, and a lot of them have a small depth control knob, not what you want. I have a Makita and a Dewalt that are this way, can not be adjusted on the fly easily. The Bosch has a bigger knob, but tools change constantly so I am not aware of current offerings. New Porter Cable stuff is junk for the most part.

Now the old Porter Cable door plane, yea, thats not going anywhere. 40 years old and still perfect.

Upper

I bought,and just used for the first time, a Makita 3.25 electric.Used it on a Blue Oak slab that was way dry.It did leave marks,but they came out nicely with the belt sander.
  But I am so new I don't even have a hand plane yet,and the only thing I have made are natural edge picture frames.......Upper
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