Whats best to use. Hand planer or belt sander

Duane Heda

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I have several wood slabs I am going to make into a dinning room table and end tables. These have to have a lot of wood removed to get all of the wood saw mill groves out. What do you believe would better to do this, a hand planer or a belt sander.
 
OK I'm new here, this is something I've dealt with many times. First question, what size belt sander and what belts do you have access to? Second what planes do you have and do you feel comfortable with your sharpening skills? How big are the slabs? I've been in the use what I have situation and it helps to make the most of what you have, ie best sanding belts for the job, very sharp plane blades. Either will get the job done. Given the two choices I would tackle the project starting with a scrub plane progressing to a #4 finish plane, if the slabs are really wonky I might use a #7 to flatten just depends. With the current options in my shop I would be using a drum sander. In the past I have leaned on a friend who has a time saver wide belt sander, makes quick work of a labor intensive project.
I stumbled upon this site wondering what happened to Tokyo Stu who I become acquainted with in another forum.
Hope I was of some help Chris
 
What Chris said. If the slabs are not warped a sharp plane should make short work of mill marks. If the slabs are warped and need considerable wood removed to be flat, then a router planer sled would be my choice, since I already have one. A well sharpened cabinet scraper will get the wood nearly finish ready.

Welcome aboard Chris. Glad you found us. Just so happens, we do have a Stu in Tokyo.
 
I need to clarify my question. My question should have asked what would be better a Power Hand Planer or a Belt Sander. My dinner table slab is about 4 foot by 6 foot. My belt sander is a 3" x 21". I do not own a power hand planer but have been looking into them.
 
I would recommend visiting Youtube and searching for the Router Planer sled mentioned.
A power hand planer like the Bosch PL2632K is good for certain things, like doors, or using on the edges of boards, similar to a jointer, but more typically in a construction mode/setting. It would not be correct for flattening a top wider then its base, and I am pretty sure would leave marks, unless you did some sort of blade modification. (not recommended)
Where a router planer sled, is a slower method then a benchtop planer, but also cost effective way to learn and works on larger pieces then a benchtop planer could handle.

If you were to use a belt sander, to achieve what you want would take something like the Sandflee and lots of time and you might still need the router planer sled to take any twist out.
 
My experience with trying to flatten things with a belt sander did not generally go well. You.. can.. but it's pretty easy to add more divots and dips than you remove. A finely set hand plane is more controlled and easier to target the high spots. I know some folks do it successfully, but I'm sure not one of them. The belt sander is handy for a lot of things but getting things strictly flat isn't it's top use for me.

A router sled is also an excellent lower effort way as others have noted.
 
I have a power hand planer, and in my experience, it'll absolutely wreck a table top. It's OK for the edge of a board or a door (fast, but not ideal), but useless on a flat surface that's wider than the blades. With quite a bit of practice, I've had decent luck flattening things with a handheld belt sander, but most of my experience has been with things that are smaller than table tops, like cutting boards. Hand planes will work, but they can also wreck a table top if they're not properly set up and sharpened (we're talking SHARP).

Barring something like a widebelt sander or large drum sander, I'd say a router sled would be the most effective solution for flattening a large surface, followed with hand sanding with a sanding block or very careful sanding with a fine (180 or 220 grit) belt sander. Whatever you use, don't be in too much of a hurry. Take your time to do it right. You can always take a bit more wood off, but it's hard to put it back on if you remove too much. ;)
 
i have done it before and a router sled is the best way if you dont have access to a wide belt sander in some cabinet shop nearby. good you tube video out there to watch to get the drift on how to do it..
 
It depends on how big your "slabs" are. If they are already glued up, I'd take them to a shop with a wide belt sander and have them flatten the slabs. Second method would be a router sled. Personally, I'd do it with a scrub and smoothing plane, but these take experience, too. I have a 3X24 belt sander, and it's the least used tool in my shop for a reason. If nothing else, it leaves noticeable tracks that can be hard to eliminate.
 
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