The following is the story of a newbee to wood working, so take it as
you may.

Want cheap nice wood to play with and learn with? Get a power thickness
planer. I got very bored playing with chunks of pine and wanted to
learn how to work with hardwoods. Chance came to save me at the local
Habitat for Humanity Re-Store, which for those of you that don't know
is like the love child between Home Depot and Goodwill, but more
expensive. That day they were selling off all the junk that had been
building up un their back lot. Low and behold there was a entire pallet
of 3/4" x 2.5" white oak hard wood flooring that from the looks of
it had been sitting out in the weather for about a year. So I buy
it...for about $50. As it turns out there is about 400sf of flooring
in a pallet of what I got about 1/4 will be firewood 1/4 will be new
flooring for the atic and the rest is perfect for messing around with.
The stuff on the outside of the pile took the brunt of the weather. But
to really use this stuff I had to get a planer to take the ridges off
the bottoms of the boards. So now that I have the planer I am looking
for some more wood to turn into sawdust, so one day I am cruising
CraigsList when I see an ad for rough cut red oak at 5$ a board. Turns
out it's some old guy out in the country that is clearing out his
shed, and he has had it stacked for drying for a few years. Me a a
buddy go to pick it up and get about 14 boards ranging from about 4"
to 10" in width. But both of us are suspicious that it is NOT red oak
after we start driving away. Sure enough after I get home I put a chunk
through the planer it turns out to be cherry! I'm pretty sure I have
paid for my $200 Ryobi planer a few times over already.

Todd

"T. Hetrick" wrote in message
I put a chunk
through the planer it turns out to be cherry! I'm pretty sure I have
paid for my $200 Ryobi planer a few times over already.

Damn, he screwed you. I'd take it back and demand he give you the oak you
bought.

BTW, you suck!

You do understand that the planer gets two opposite surfaces parallel
and to
some specific distance between them.
But
it won't make it flat
and
it won't make one edge straight

So - if what you fed into the planer
was
cupped
twisted
or
crooked

Then
what comes ot of the planer
is still
cupped
twisted
or
crooked

To get a board that isn't flat flat
you need a joiner

To get one edge straight and square to
a face
you need a joiner
(ok so you can do that with a table saw and a jig)

OH - and 400sf @ 3/4" thickness comes to 300 bf.
At $50 for the lot you got a good deal - $0.17/bf.

You Suck.

charlie b

"charlie b" wrote in message
...
You do understand that the planer gets two opposite surfaces parallel
and to
some specific distance between them.
But
it won't make it flat
and
it won't make one edge straight

So - if what you fed into the planer
was
cupped
twisted
or
crooked

Then
what comes ot of the planer
is still
cupped
twisted
or
crooked

To get a board that isn't flat flat
you need a joiner

Or a hand plane.

To get one edge straight and square to
a face
you need a joiner

Or a hand plane.

charlie b wrote:

So - if what you fed into the planer
was
cupped
twisted
or
crooked

Reasonable skill with a thickness planer will take out cupping (i.e.
don't just wind the handle right down and try to squash the board
flat).

Twisted boards are generally best avoided anyway. They're either
reaction wood or they're badly dried. Good timber isn't _meant_ to
twist (it is meant to cup, that's just wood for you). If I have twist
in a board that I can't take out by planing it, then I either rip the
board smaller until I can, or it goes for scrap anyway.

CW wrote:

Or a hand plane.

Yet another Neander / Follower of Roy heard from.

But it is a point worth noting - hand tools will often get
the job done quicker and quieter than a Tailed Beast.
And lets face it, few here do stock prep on 200 or
300 bf at a time. And unless it was all going to be used
shortly after milling, it's likely to need some more stock
prep just before it is used.

Besides, there is a certain pleasure hearing the swoosh
as a long hand plane passes over the edge of a board,
the shavings getting longer and longer as the edge comes
flat - and straight - and, hopefully, square to the adjacent
face of the board. No dust collector nor ear protection
necessary.

charlie b

charlie b wrote:
You do understand that the planer gets two opposite surfaces parallel
and to
some specific distance between them.
But
it won't make it flat
and
it won't make one edge straight

So - if what you fed into the planer
was
cupped
twisted
or
crooked

Then
what comes ot of the planer
is still
cupped
twisted
or
crooked

To get a board that isn't flat flat
you need a joiner

To get one edge straight and square to
a face
you need a joiner
(ok so you can do that with a table saw and a jig)

OH - and 400sf @ 3/4" thickness comes to 300 bf.
At $50 for the lot you got a good deal - $0.17/bf.

You Suck.

charlie b

I hear ya. Anything that is too short is fire wood, the curved,cupped
and bowed stuff is for the atic floor. The "ridges" I am taking off
with the thickness planer are the ridges milled into the bottom of each
plank by the mfg. There is quite a bit of waste. After I clean it all
up I get a 5/8"x1-7/8" peice of clean white oak. it's a lot of work,
but it teaches me a lot about my tools.

Todd

I completely agree! Sometimes, my stock gets a little bit thinner than
desired, just because I couldn't resist my self to do another pleasant
"swoosh"!

Also, the surface quality difference is preety noticeable many times...
I just preffer to use a good no 7.

Best!
Nautilus


charlie b ha escrito:
CW wrote:

Or a hand plane.

Yet another Neander / Follower of Roy heard from.

But it is a point worth noting - hand tools will often get
the job done quicker and quieter than a Tailed Beast.
And lets face it, few here do stock prep on 200 or
300 bf at a time. And unless it was all going to be used
shortly after milling, it's likely to need some more stock
prep just before it is used.

Besides, there is a certain pleasure hearing the swoosh
as a long hand plane passes over the edge of a board,
the shavings getting longer and longer as the edge comes
flat - and straight - and, hopefully, square to the adjacent
face of the board. No dust collector nor ear protection
necessary.

charlie b

charlie b wrote:

But it is a point worth noting - hand tools will often get
the job done quicker and quieter than a Tailed Beast.

A planer isn't a Tailed Beast, it's a fixed machine.

Now I'm all for the hand tools vs. powered hand tools debate, but
there's a time when a few HP and a few cwt. of cast iron gets the job
done in a way that's simply not going to happen by hand.