Is MFT sturdy enough???

[fidelfs]

I have some rough wider wood that I need to plane down to final dimensions.  I will use hand planes and I wonder if the MFT 1080 is sturdy enough to handle hand planning?

Any one that has tried this before? 

 

[Brian 57]

As it happens, this is very close to a topic being discussed on a thread on this forum started by ByronBlack.
Regards

 

[Jesse Cloud]

Short answer, no.  Some have placed a different sort of base on the MFT, instead of the folding legs - I imagine one could make it sturdy enough.  In my opinion, same answer for hand sawing.

 

[bgray43050]

Simple answer...no.

Here's my solution.
http://www.briangray.net/projectdetail.cfm?ProjectID=32

 

[Matthew Schenker]

Brian,
Every time I see that MFT setup you have, I hear a voice in my head that says, "Go into your shop right now and build something like that!"

I'm thinking of combining your design with a couple of other ones I have seen here and elsewhere.  I'd like to build a shop-made MFT with a larger top (perhaps twice the depth), and have it be on casters, so it can be moved around the shop.  But I love your concept of lifting the top up to create shelf spaces right under the MFT, or space for  clamps/dogs.

Thanks for sharing.

Anyone else with MFT designs, please let us see them!

Matthew

 

[Mike_Chrest]

Fidelfs,
  You could try anchoring the MFT to a wall or post temporarily. T-nuts fit in the extrusions around the outside edges and you could rig up something to make it more stable. The clamping surface is great.
Mike

 

[Jim Becker]

IMHO, you could get away with it for incidental planing, but for doing real hand-plane work, you'll not be happy with the MFT as a support structure.

 

[ScooterX]

8)

fold the table, put it on the ground, and use it the way Japanese carpenters do their work -- planing and sawing while kneeling.

 

[Loren Woirhaye]

The legs aren't all that stable but that's not the real problem.

The MFT is too short and too light for handplaning.  You can weight down
the back legs with a sandbag or bag of buckshot and that might help.

If you put enough weight on the MFT that it doesn't lift up when
you plane you'll be okay, but probably never satisfied if you've
ever worked on a real cabinetmaker's bench.

You might try hanging sandbags from the holes in the MFT, too...
or staking it out if you want to work outside on the dirt.

I've never seen a good portable bench design for handplane work.
The MFT 1080 is heavy for a portable bench but it's nowhere
near heavy or long enough to do handplaning with any efficiency.