Planing boards for cabinet rails & stiles

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MacMitch

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Mar 17, 2007
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Do I need an electric thickness planer for the fairly small boards in cabinet doors ? My buddy has been telling me for years I should buy a small portable planer. I don't think the Festool planers are designed for this kind of work? Since my work with wood has been more construction oriented I have been fine using dimensioned lumber. I am having a hard time getting excited about it, there are so many other tools..

I have: jack, jointer, smooth, block hand planes, card scrapers. I also have an MFT, T55 and 1400 router and I am working on a new router table.
 
If you are starting with rough lumber, a thickness planer would be very helpful.
If you buy preplaned lumber, then you really do not need one.
 
It took me a while to get a planer, but life is so much easier with one. You can buy unfinished lumber and thickness it all to the required dimension easily. Rails, stiles, panels- all identical, and it doesn't have to be a standard size either.

A jointer on the other hand is not so essential given that the TS55 will give you a very straight edge, and you have some good hand planes too.

You'll get a variety of opinions here, but that's my setup and it has served me well for a while now.
 
A jointer is essential to ensure you have a flat board to run through the thickness planer.  The order I process rough stock:

Cut to length + 2" and width + 1/2 to 1"
Joint one side flat
joint one edge square to the flat side
plane for thickness
rip to final width + 1/32"
joint the ripped edge
square cut one end
cut to length
cut profiles or joinery

I have found that not all S2S lumber is flat; some has a slight twist.  If the twist is not jointed out first, the planer will just create a board of uniform thickness that will follow the twist.  Twisted lumber will make twisted doors.
 
Wonderwino said:
A jointer is essential to ensure you have a flat board to run through the thickness planer.  The order I process rough stock:

Cut to length + 2" and width + 1/2 to 1"
Joint one side flat
joint one edge square to the flat side
plane for thickness
rip to final width + 1/32"
joint the ripped edge
square cut one end
cut to length
cut profiles or joinery

I have found that not all S2S lumber is flat; some has a slight twist.  If the twist is not jointed out first, the planer will just create a board of uniform thickness that will follow the twist.  Twisted lumber will make twisted doors.
Click to expand...

I was taking into account the fact that he already has a jointer hand plane.
 
I think Dewalt makes one the Borg's carry that is fairly popular, is a machine like this a good place to start $350- $550? I looked at a machine made by Mini-Max once, just Googled it, yikees $4,595. The big stationary planers and jointer/planers are probably more than I would like to invest in at this time.

http://www.grizzly.com/products/13-2-HP-Planer-with-Dust-Collection/G0689
http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/2063972/25062/Jet-10-Jointer--Planer-Combo-with-Stand-Model-JJP10BTOS.aspx
http://www.woodcraft.com/Family/2063962/DeWalt-HeavyDuty-1212-Thickness-Planer-with-Three-Knife-CutterHead-Model-DW734.aspx
http://www.woodcraft.com/Family/2004893/DeWalt-13-Two-Speed-Planer.aspx
http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/2080294/29117/Delta-1212-Portable-Planer-Model-TP305.aspx

This one seems to be highly rated...
http://www.smallparts.com/makita-2012nb-12-inch-interna-lok-automated/dp/B000051ZOO?ref_=bng_pf_B000051ZOO
 
For the type of work that you are contemplating a power planer or joiner is just a nuisance.  If you feel compelled to use rough lumber just get a good scrub plane IMHO its faster and works much better than the power stuff.  As for the jointry on the cabinets the 65 or 850 do that well but why bother you already have the superior tool for the job.
 
I have a DeWalt 13" and it works fine for me.  (It is the one speed model and not the two speed.)  If time is a factor, go with the dimensioned lumber.
 
I'm with the Wino on this one.  I used to reject a lot of lumber because it was not flat enough to make anything with.  It was laziness and igmorance on my part as at the time I owned both a Delta joiner and a Dewalt planer.  After I practiced a bit I went to my stockpile of twisted lumber and found quite a few pieces of furniture. 

My advice is, get the equipment and you will find a use for it outside it's original use.  I build alot of furniture so I use my planer to make pieces of varying thickness per a design.
 
If I were earning a living at woodworking power jointers & planers would be the only way to go however as an amateur I really enjoy surfacing & edging with hand planes -- no noise, no dust and it's a downright  therapeutic part of the hobby.  It does take a fair commitment to learn the skills required to get good results.
 
When flattening by hand, it is essential to have the right combination of planes and a good idea of how to use winding sticks.  Thicknessing by hand is a skill I haven't mastered, yet.  [blink]
 
Wonderwino said:
When flattening by hand, it is essential to have the right combination of planes and a good idea of how to use winding sticks.  Thicknessing by hand is a skill I haven't mastered, yet.   [blink]
Click to expand...

That's correct Wino, I bought the Veritas winding sticks which is a nice little set & will stay true. The purists make their own & regularly true them.
  As you say the planes, cutting gauges and a good sharpening setup are all important to make it enjoyable.  Probably the biggest thing is having patience and taking the time to do it all correctly.  Again, it's a skill to be learned for it's own satisfaction -- I couldn't pay the bills doing it.  [smile]
 
If I buy flat 4 sides wood a plainer is OK for a little thicknessing.  But if I wind up with a cupped board or twist it is pretty useless as I need one side flat.  I wind up needing a joiner and a plainer, or a large drum sander which works better so far as tearout and snipe goes.  But hand planes are faster and you loose less wood.  (I admit that I would not thickness a flat 4 side board that is in good shape using a hand plane; after all that's what a thickness planer is for.)  I use what ever is the best and most convenient tool for the job; sometimes its power tools and others its hand tools; I am not religious about either.

My brother has sent me some nice rough sawn Oak with quite a bit of burl.  I can either take it to a local sawer who has exotic industrial gear to turn it into flat 4 sides or I can try my hand with a scrub plane.  I am going to air dry it and then try the scrub plane unless my arthritis gets worse.  Among other reasons why are that I would need to rent a truck with a lift and its a two hour drive one way to the mill.
 
I'm surprised at the wide range of views.

I would like to get good with hand planes. It seems sort of strange to me how some swear by them, and some just do not seem to get the same results. I suspect the difference is mostly a matter of touch, feel and technique with the tools. I also suspect that one needs substantial skill and speed with sharpening devices of some sort to keep those hand tools operating properly. I have a Tormek Grinder and  a 1 1/2- 2 inch belt sander, plus a decent supply of stones.

I have: Record jointer plane, Record Smooth, Paragon (Garret Wade) jack, Veritas Low angle Jack, Veritas LA  Block. I was thinking of adding a scrub plane, probably the Veritas.

I could certainly spend a little more time with the hand planes and see if I like working the wood with them.

In terms of electric stationary planers. a 12-13 inch Dewalt or Makita might come in handy as well. It seems some use both.
 
Well I have a small block plane that I got as a freebe, and whenever I tried to use it I more swore at it than by it.  Then I got a good plane used and found that they can be the way to go.

As for thickness planers I know folks with both of those who like them but if I were in the market I would get one of the Jet sander.  Does better with boards that don't have a flat side and there is no snipe and usually little or no tearout, even on difficult woods.
 
Hmmm, want that sander make mega dust? Is it possible to suction it?

Does anyone have this planer or something similar? A friend told me he would go larger than his DeWalt 735, 13" if he was buying now..
675lbs, 42+ inch table & wings, 3HP, 15"x8" capacity, nice stand & roller system... under $1000, $1,139 shipped. Not much more than a DeWalt 735 with the extras to make it support longer boards etc...

http://www.grizzly.com/products/15-3-HP-220V-Planer-Polar-Bear-Series/G0453P
 
I might buy that if I did not have a Delta already. Its nice and will blow any bench top out of the water.
 
Two posible issues with the big 15" planer vs the 12-13'

1) Dust collection- my Festool CT22E might come closer to handling the smaller planer dust situation? If I would need to invest in and make room for a large dust collection system...

2) Changing/aligning blades, very simple on the newer 12-13" planers, not so sure on the 15" model
Grizzly does offer a "knife-setting system":

http://www.grizzly.com/products/Planer-Pal-Standard-Carbide-Each/G1757
 
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