Thickness planing with a Saf-T-Planer

[Mark Pollock]

Pretty much what I wrote in the subject - I am starting to build my first uke (aw, how cute!) and need to plane everything to the correct thickness.I know that I bench planer is not safe to use for this, nor do I have one anyways. I also lack a thickness sander or reasonable approximation of one. I do have a drill press, and I think the Wagner Saf-T-Planer would work fine for this, but I wanted to get any other useful opinions you good folks here would have about this.

 

Mark Pollock

[Pierre-Antoine Roiron]

The Wagner would only help to get close to your thickness. If you lack a drum sander, the best way is the old way : buy or borrow a good hand plane! Build a thickness caliper to check your work.

[FRANK]

watch the curl that planer may blow out figuer

[Pierre-Antoine Roiron]

Paul's right. If you go for the Wagner grind it real sharp.

[FRANK]

yea I believe the planers with spiral teeth are the best and prevent blow out, although the planers $800 and less you find your self buying a straight blade planer with either 2 or 3 blades and that blade will pull chunks from your top back what ever your trying t plane thickness down .If you have curl or other figure sand it for assurance it takes a bit longer but you will not hurt the piece like a planer would . Like i said I have heard stories about these spiral teeth cutter bits and they should work better and quieter than the old style and may provide a more exact cut .

[Jeff Highland]

Paul, the OP is not talking about a regular planer but about a Wagner Safe-t-planer which is a rotary device used on a drill press.

[FRANK]

come one Jeff he s gonna hand plane something well if it is a uke ok but sides for an acoustic id sand out with a drum sander and stay far away from a planer

[Jeff Highland]

Improve your reading skills Paul, and actually read the original post.

[Tom Krebs]

Look at this video:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfaLmBGKjJY

[FRANK]

well if my guitar shop was the size of a phone booth i would buy this tool ,I think it is a very difficult thing to use and what about figured woods i bet you can achieve blow out with the bladed tools to thickness out the lumber stock. I would sand unless using rough lumber then plane it out.that is the safest shop advice i can add did you notice they were planing EBONY which is the least likely to blow out when planing because if its density and hardness .if you were to try a quilted maple ill bet you would be needing a very sharp tool or a sanding drum .I would say it is a good idea for some things but way to complicated for my shop you would need to set it up each pass,Id rather turn a handle crank and watch the piece sand out in one shot dial caliper it in as soon as each consecutive pass through my sander .

[Mark Pollock]

GREAT LINK! Holy cow, I am really psyched about this now! I can see that it will help to tune up my scraper sharpening skills and make some tweaks to a few hand planes, but man, that looks like some easy peasy lemon squeezy work there. This has been holding me back for a couple of years now, so I am thrilled!

[Russell Vance]

Hello Mark,
I do not have a Wagner safety planer and would prefer to hear from someone who did regards how suitable this tool is your project - but, as it is a rough cut device when demonstrated on U Tube I see you will be learning the finer points of sanding and scraping anyway and no doubt deriving much satisfaction with the hands on approach.

Similarly, if you are a skilled Hand Planer, Pierre's advice is well sent - hand planing is one of the more satisfying things in life when done well along with the pleasure of sharpening and setting plane blades/irons. Unfortunately, I don't seem to have the time these days to practice this fine art but certainly envy those who do.

However, if it does not turn out as well as expected perhaps you might consider using a professional machine shop to do your initial cutout and thicknessing which gives you a good 'bare canvas' to work with. This becomes particularly relevant when (as Paul mentions) you are using figured wood such as Koa/Tasmanian Blackwood and grain pick-out or blow-out becomes a consideration. There are many ways to skin a cat, as they say, but most of them are difficult at first.

Good luck, Rusty.

[Jeff Highland]

I have a Wagner (and apparently it is important not to use a knock off)
I don't use it for backs and sides because I have a thickness sander, but if Robbie O'Brien says it works then he has built a lot of guitars and taught a lot of students.
I use mine for things like thicknessing the back of headstocks, back of necks, inaccessible ares for bigger tools.