Academy Notes and Tips
JAN/FEB
2003
Volume 46/Issue 1
IN
THIS ISSUE
Project
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Classic Rolltop Desk
• 16-Drawer Apothecary Chest
• First Class Letter Box
DEPARTMENTS
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Ask Smitty
• Owner’s Gallery
• Letters from Owners
Academy Notes
Should
you have a Thickness Planer in your shop?
Service Pointers
MARK
V Service Pointers
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Hearing
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What's
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When
accuracy counts Incra Rules
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Copyright
2003.
Shopsmith, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
From
the Shopsmith Woodworking Academy
Should You
Have A Thickness Planer In Your Shop?
Printer
friendly PDF copy of article
How to make creative
use of one
A thickness planer adds a tremendous amount of potential to your shop...as
it complements the stationary power tools you already own.
It works with the jointer to prepare straight, true, parallel wood in preparation for additional cutting, molding, shaping, routing and drilling.
It works with the table saw to ensure that every piece of stock you saw, dado or mold will be exactly the same thickness, eliminating the need to continually adjust your set-ups to compensate for slight differences in the thickness of the various pieces of stock you've purchased from the lumberyard.
Used as a helper for making delicate projects with the bandsaw or scroll saw, it will prepare smooth, thinned stock for crafts and gift items.
It helps ensure that all of your lathe turning blanks are identical. For example, if you're turning four legs for a table with each leg having a square portion where it meets the table's apron, the planer will help you be certain that all of these square leg tops match perfectly.
A planer will also eliminate the need to spend excessive amounts of time making dust while preparing your surfaces with the drum or belt sander.
Increasing Economy
When it comes to stretching the dollars you budget for lumber, a thickness
planer will also save your money. By having your own planer, you won't
have to pay the lumberyard to plane the stock you want to buy. Depending
on the amount of lumber you need, you could purchase rough lumber and
pocket some nice savings on every board foot you plane yourself. Plus,
you can purchase more readily available narrow stock, straighten and true-up
its edges on your jointer, glue them edge-to-edge to make wider boards,
then pass the assembled stock through your planer to achieve exactly the
thickness you need. In this way, you'll be able to get the wider boards
you need for your projects at a nice savings.
You can also save on your lumber costs by resawing thick stock into thinner pieces, then planing it. Using this technique, you'll get two or more thin boards out of one thick one, eliminating the need to purchase 1-inch thick stock when all you really need is 5/16 thick stock.
Within the established guidelines of planer safety, you'll also be able to run certain pieces of scrap stock through your planer, then use them in larger projects for inlay, marquetry, parquet work and intarsia - or for smaller craft items like jewelry boxes or ornamental items.
