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

[nathan clark]

I can't speak for the safe-t-planer because I don't own one and I've never used one. But if this were my project I would be inclined to hand-plane the stock to thickness. A jack plane or smoothing plane would work well for thicknessing. You could bring it home with a random orbit sander or a scraper. Those edged tools take some getting used to. They require a pretty big time investment up front (and to a lesser degree, a financial one as well). But once you have them and know how to set them up and use them you'll find all sorts of time saving applications for them.

I know I sound like a Luddite, but the combination of tradition and technology is an effective one in a small shop.

[Mark Pollock]

Yeah, I get it, I have the tools, it's actually a matter of effective working space and skill with setting up and using the tools. (it turns out that big auto swaps are great places to get old planes for a song.)

I actually hope to build a thickness sander on my lathe, when I have spare time - I retire in 25 years, so maybe then...

[Ned Knepp]

I haven't tried the Safe-T- Planer so I can't contribute much but I think, that cutting cross grain, as it does may limit the tear out compared to a straight bladed power planer. I'm sure that depth and width of cut along with the feed speed may need to be adjusted but it looks to me like it could do a pretty good job even on unruly grain if handled with care.

Of course a thickness sander would be much better but we don't all have access to one.

Ned

[Frank Ford]

The Wagner Saf-T-Planer is a swell tool. I first encountered it about 40 years ago, and I wouldn't want to be without mine. Even if you have thickness sanders, planes and all manner of other woodworking gear, you'll be likely to find at least an occasional use for the Wagner.

I've seen any number of other drill press fly cutters and "planing" attachments, NONE of which is anywhere close to the simplicity and safety of the Wagner.

It will do a fine job of thicknessing ukulele wood.

[Rob Mercure]

Another option that I've used - in a similar way to the Wagner - is using a chuck on a radial arm saw with the motor assembly turned vertically and a power drill type disk sander. It would probably be a bit too slow for a guitar top but for something uke sized the speed wouldn't be that much problem. One of the nice things about a radial arm saw vs. table saw. I no longer have room for my radial arm saw - a friend has it on long-term/possibly permanent loan - but I used it to sand lots of very thin boards about 20 years ago before the hook and loop ("Velcro) type disks. If your table is perpendicular to the motor and you don't take too much of a bit it works very well.

But I definitely wouldn't knock hand planes - after all sandpaper hasn't been around that long, only little over 100 years while the plane and scraper go back thousands. Stradivarius violins and Torres and the original Martin weren't made with drum sanders. And there's really something just so much nicer working with non-power tools. Yeah it's slower but a much more meditative experience. I use a knife and whittle many things where others would use a router and often use a hand saw just for the rhythm of it.

Rob

[FRANK]

yes Rob but in 4 years total I have built almost 50 instruments from scratch even cutting my own trees and needing to cure the lumber,all the way till I have a finished product with all of today's innovative advances in tools and usage I can not see the point in returning to this process of scraping to thickness a back or side .I am wondering if you are going to loose material due to the uneven passes even when .015 or less makes you or breaks you ..the times when I find it necessary to scrape like when building carved electric guitars tops for example I like my goose neck scraper or necks I have a half moon shape i like .

[Tim Smith]

Yep, I agree with Frank. I've used one for a good while and it allows life without a planer or thickness sander. Be sure to practice on scrap first. Getting the thickness exact is a little tricky with my Harbor Freight drill press. Also, make sure that the drill press table is exactly perpendicular to the drill axis.

[Mark Pollock]

Well, my Saf-T-Planer arrived from StewMac today, and what came with it - a handy 3 page sheet of tips and instructions, with suggestions for jigs and all kinds of good advice. Very cool. I'll fire up some scrap with it tomorrow, and see how it goes.

[Donald A. Fortune]

Keep us posted Mark- I bought a thickness planer from a tool company near me and it will plane a piece of wood 12 inches wide down to 1.5 MM which is the thickness of most guitar tops, backs, and sides.
I'm interested in knowing how the safety planer works though.
Peace, Donald

[STGuitarworks]

I don't have the floor space or the budget for a planer or thickness sander so the Saf-T-Planer gets a lot of use over here. What gets more use while I'm building is what I've got in the picture. 5" diameter chunk of 11/16" formica with an $8 arbor and 40 grit 3M adhesive sandpaper plus a 2' x 16" formica bolt-on table. It is very good for medium duty work, inexpensive to make and fairly reliable.

[Jeff Highland]

John Gilbert used a sanding disc like that but with a hole cut out of the centre of the abrasive, reckoned it worked better that way.

[brian mastro]

I hate to bump a months old thread but starting a new one I figured someone would tell me to use the search function anyway and I'd wind up here but I have a different question about the same product.

 

I bought one based on this review: http://www.frets.com/fretspages/luthier/ProductReviews/Tools/SafeTP... and I read the instructions, set it up and as a fed it it kicked. tried feeding the wood a couple different ways same result, I tried again with a more modest cut on a different piece of wood and it immediately splintered along the grain and kicked back the smaller of the 2 pieces with enough force to puncture my palm ( not badly enough to require a trip to the emergency room but still it drew blood). How could I be misusing something advertised as completely safe so badly?