Planer

[Trainer]

My brother-in-law had a bunch of pines killed by beetles. My wife and I are getting ready to build a house and will be using the wood from the trees. What I need is a planer to dimension the lumber. Does anyone have a planer sitting around that is begging for a new owner so it can get some action? If you have one you wish to sell, please let me know.

 

[randy41]

try craigslist. if you don't need to plane very wide boards those portable planers (lunchbox planers) work pretty good and aren't very expensive.

 

[czechsonofagun]

Unless you are planing only few boards, the typical $400 range planer will not be up to the task. They were not built for production.

Also, planing more than few boards will make you swim in shavings. It creates amazing amount of wood chips. I would look in dust collector too - like store bought dust collector combined with cyclone trash can lid from Rockler or Woodcraft store and a trash can.

 

[Egon]

Just curious on how you will cut the logs to lumber dimensions?

Will the lumber require inspection so it will meet specifications for your building code?

There are a number of small portable planers on the market. These will work but most only go to a maximum of 13 inches and usually cost maybe $600 dollars and down in the Canadian market.

The next step up planers have larger beds and usually start at about 15 inches wide and up. These will have 220 volt higher horsepower motors and are quite durable.

I have one of the cheapest portable planers, a Delta. 12 inches wide, two reversible blades. You do get snipe with it on the planed boards. Mine is set up so there is a six foot in feed and out feed table. It has planed many boards and has produced a lot of shavings. The drive pulley on it has required replacement.

For house building quantity lumber I'd recommend a commercial milling operation for cutting and finishing the logs to lumber. Constant thickness and square edges may be a problem for the "do it yourself" concept. Also the wider board edges may not be planable or it would be difficult to plane them.

For some portions of house building unplanned lumber may be used. " Code's"

Note: I very much enjoy planning lumber. For me it's fascinating.

Attached is a picture showing my planer set up. It may not look all that great but it does work.

 

[Trainer]

The lumber is being cut with a band mill by someone that does this for a living. Codes are not a problem. The lumber exceeds the building codes.

I grew up in the logging woods and sawmills. In fact my father, brothers, uncles, and cousins pulled sinker cypress from the Sabine River between Louisiana and Texas, milled the logs, and built my Grandmother's house. The subfloor was 26" wide sinker cypress boards.

Since I have experience in this area I am willing to take on the task.

 

[Egon]

With your background it's certainly a doable task. All it will take is a little patience.

 

[B8FISH]

I would also suggest Craigslist--if you find a good used/old hd planer with a feed unit it will help out alot. The larger in and outfeed tables the better. An old well taken care of machine will likely be better than what you can get new.

 

[czechsonofagun]

I remember your setup, Egon, from previous posts. It does not matter what it looks like - results count

And infeed and outfeed table is almost as important as the planer itself.

 

[randy41]

Egon makes a good point about whether the ungraded lumber would be acceptable to the building inspector and I would suggest checking that out before you begin.

 

[studor]

I have the DeWalt (13" three blade) that I have used in the process of rebuilding a log cabin. It worked fine on the 12" pine that I had for the outside window frames but baulked a little on Maple over four inches (very very slow). I ended up taking the maple to a local guy who does hardwood floors and he planed it and edged it all for "shop time" of $75 . Look around for a sawyer that has one of the big commercial jobs -- I still would not be without my planer but can't justify buying one of those -- jmho