wrote:

For anyone looking for a full-on planer-thicknesser I bought the
scheppach hms260 about a year ago (after umming and ahhing about a
dewalt and electra-beckum instead) - and found it ideal (I would change
nothing about it) right up to it's maximum dimensions (though 300mm
width would be useful now and again, the price stepis significant).

Nice looking bit of kit... I think a bigger workshop would need to be on
the menu first in my case though! ;-)

How do people cope with thicknesser only? Surely the moment you
encounter some bowed boards you're stuck with an irregularity only a
surface planer can remove?

You are right that there are some things a planer will do that a
thicknesser won't, but I find that thicknessers are still very useful in
their own right for all sorts of job.

You can extend their application with a bit of imagination as well - so
things like making a fence that you can clamp boards to prior to passing
the whole thing through the thicknesser will allow square edge
preparation. Cup and curl are not too diffficult to deal with, but a
seriously bowed/bent board is a more trickey proposition. The answer to
which might be use it for something else, and find more suitable board!

--
Cheers,

John.

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