On 7/7/2012 11:56 AM, 4fingers wrote:
OK -- I know they're two different tools with different main purpose.
However -- I have ~300 bd.ft. of black walnut. Most of it is rough and some
is S2S, all of it is a full 1 1/8" thick or more. Although I like hand
tools I can't see planing that much lumber just to surface it much less to
get it to a full 1" or 3/4" thickness. I think a bandsaw would be more
practial since I could use it for other things including (I hope) resawing
/ surfacing the lumber to thickness. I'm thinking about getting a 14" and a
riser block or a 17". Either would have to be 120 volts. How practical
would surfacing on a bandsaw be? Or would I be better off just getting a
planer? BTW most of the boards are 8 - 14" wide. I also have some oak
that's 16" wide that will need surfacing also. Thanks.


What you really need is a jointer and a planer, at least if you are looking
to have flat uncupped unwound untwisted wood as the final result of your
efforts. Using just a planer will give you wood of an even thickness but
won't manage to remove the other problems rough wood is heir to. A bandsaw
is a wonderful too in the shop and one that is large enough to resaw thick
wood is best but it won't give you anything but thinner rough wood.

To be honest, if I only had 300bf of lumber to process I'd spend my money
having somebody with a well-equipped shop do the work for me and save up
money for some heavy iron and 240V wiring if the need will come up frequently.