Rotex Planer?

[fdengel]

Question...

I haven't really done anything with solid wood yet (other than dimensional lumber), but I have a piece of Brazillian Cherry now that I would like to use for a project.

The board was already dry when I bought it, but it is slightly cupped and I'm concerned about trying to flatten it before cutting it.  I'm not too worried about the edges, since I can fix that easily enough by cutting with the TS 55, but I don't have (nor do I currently have the room to store / money to buy) a propper planer, so I need to do so using other tools, preferably those I already have.

I am thinking of positioning it on a surface in the most stable way I can (either with those pads under it that prevent it from slipping, or possibly clamped) and trying to flatten it "in essence" using a coarse-grit Cristal on my Rotex 150, then flipping and doing the other side.

Once both sides are close to flat that way, I could try to finish it using a hand plane.  I'm not very good with hand planes (at least not yet), so I'm hoping to get the board approximately flat before I start working on it with one.

:-\

Is this a reasonable plan?  It's about the best I can think of right now (with what I have available), but I wanted to run it by those with more experience first to see if anyone caught anything I missed here.

Would there be any advantage to using the hard pad of the Rotex at any point?  I can afford to add one of those to my collection if it would help, but if I'm planning on finishing with the hand plane anyway, and the soft pad is the one I usually see recommended for agressive sanding, I'm not sure how much of a help the hard pad would be in this situation...

Thank you!

 

[nickao]

That just is not going to work very well depending on how bad it is. I use nothing but the hard pad, still a cupped board is not going to get completely flat using it.

If you have a router you probably should use that to surface the wood flat.

 

[fdengel]

The cupping is not very severe, just enough to make me concerned that it could throw of some joints or not look quite right in the end.  It seems to be reasonably straight along the length, it is the shorter end that isn't quite right.

It's visible if you look at the end of the board, but there is plenty of could-be-flat material in between...  maybe cupped isn't even the right word, just the closest way I can think of to describe it offhand.

 

[nickao]

Well if you do try it I definitely would use the hard pad. Actually, the day I get my sanders I put on the hard pad and never, ever use the soft pad. The hard pad makes for some flat work. Plus, if you are sanding say 2" strips the hard pad will not round over the edges.

The hard pad does make a huge difference for me.

Oh make sure you use a rough grit at first for stock removal. If you use a 100 it is just going to follow the same shape. I would use at least a 40 grit to flatten, then work your way up.

 

[Jesse Cloud]

Agree with Nickao.  Hard to get wood joint-quality flat with a handheld sander.  Here are some thoughts that I hope will help.

Since you aren't sure whether "cupped" is the right term, lets go to basics.  Is the problem visible mostly when you are looking at it from the end or from the side?  If the problem is visible from the side, and you have extra length, cutting it into shorter pieces will make the solution.

The hand plane will fix the problem way faster than a sander.  Plane off the high spots until it sits flat, then remove plane marks with the sander.

I'll bet someone on this forum lives near you and has a jointer and a planer.  Post your location and see...

Good luck!

 

[greg mann]

How wide is the board? For the most part I agree with what Nick has told you but if the board is wider than your Rotex it will be more difficult. If the board is much wider than 4 inches you will surely need to check your work as you go. Keep looking for the high spots with a staightedge and concentrate on them. When you start getting it flat the Rotex will telegraph that back to you with a uniform feeling to its movement and sound. When you do the 2nd side you also need to be thinking about parallelism to the first side as well as flat.

All the being said, a handlplane could probably get you there faster. You say you aren't very good with handplanes. Well, this is how you get good. If you have some other less than straight wood laying around that is less valuable you could practice on that.

 

[fdengel]

I don't have it in front of me right now, so the quick & dirty picture may be overemphasizing the issue, but should still be more effective than trying to word it...  If I'm remembering correctly, I think it is just over a foot wide, a few feet long, maybe just under an inch thick.

[attachimg=#]

I have some P40 Cristal I was planning on using.  I will need to do some experimenting on some scraps with the plane to see how far I get with it, but will probably add the hard pad to my shopping list as well.

I've been happy with the soft pad for the rotex so far, and I do have the supersoft pad for fine-grit finishing and such, but haven't had to work a large area like this flat before.

Thanks for all of the help!

 

[fdengel]

Ouch... looking at my picture again, it is NOT as bad as I made it look!

 

[AlexThePalex]

A sander is for surface treatment only. However, with softer woods like pine you can get quite a bit of stock removal but for harder woods, and I think Brazilian Cherry is harder wood, it's gonna be problematic. 

 

[grobin]

If you have a decent hand plane go with that.  Or consider getting one.
Otherwise you can try to ind a shop or some one with a good drum sander. 

 

[fidelfs]

Long time ago there was an episode on Woodworks or the New Yankee Workshop (I think) how to fix some issues.
I remember a cupped board like you describe and what he did was to cut into 2 pieces, that released some tension on the wood and then he planed a way.
After the cut the cup is almost gone on each piece.  You could then hand plane to get them straight and then with rejoin them with glue.
The TS55 will leave a nearly almost perfect glue joint so after gluing them back the join will be invisible.
Then you can hand plane again and sand to fix any remaining problems, but at this point they will be minor.

When you tried to plane a excessive cupped board then you will remove a lot of wood to make it straight, but you are not releasing the tension, just removing wood and it could cup again.  Split into 2 pieces will release tension and you will remove less wood.

I did that some times and it worked great, I know sometimes you don't want to cut the wood but believe me sometimes works.

 

[peter halle]

Thinking differently than others, do you have a router of any brand?

What is the maximum length that you need?

A router sled is what I am thinking about.

Peter

 

[mouppe]

Good luck, but I think you are pushing on a rope to try and get a flat board using a sander. I would use a straight edge to identify the high spots, and plane those away.

You could save yourself some work by cutting your board to close to final dimension for the project you have in mind, so you have left material to flatten. I believe Brazilian cherry is a very hard wood- certainly not what I would like to learn hand planing on.

 

[Kevin Stricker]

Start with the hand plane.  You will probably have to sand after hand planing anyways if you are not very skilled.

Better yet, take it to a hardwood store/lumber yard and have them mill it S4S ( surface 4 sides) for you. 

Unless you need the full width of the board, if you rip it into smaller widths it will be much easier to flatten.  As mentioned above, ripping it in half then joining that edge and gluing back up also works well.

 

[Warrior]

I would call a woodworking shop that has a 12" jointer and planer. And have them surface it. It would be a 10 min job with those tools or you could mess around with your tools all day and still not flatten it. Jatoba is a difficult wood to plane by hand. The grain interlocks and it is one of the hardest woods at 2900 janka. Forget using your sander to flatten it. You could possibly flatten one side but then how about the other side. with out the proper tools and skill getting the other side parrallel will be difficult to say the least.