# How do you finish a slab without a planer?



## chewbacca (Jun 7, 2009)

Alright, I'm fairly new to this site and have never milled before. I'm a commercial arborist and think it's a shame to watch nice wood go through the chipper or cut up for firewood, so I'm thinking about getting a chainsaw mill. In the winter, I do taxidermy work and, as such, I cut and finish wood panels for those projects. I saw on here somewhere where someone asked what is the use of cutting a slab wider than will fit in a 13" planer. One of the responses was that that person used a router and a jig to finish the surface of the slab instead of planing it. My question is, can someone please explain to me that process of finishing the surface of a large slab smoothly before using the slab for furniture? Please be easy on me. I haven't searched that extensively for the answer to this. If this is covered in another thread, a link would be awesome. Thanks guys. I've got lots more questions about chainsaws and mills after this.


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## LAndrews (Jun 7, 2009)

I honestly can't imagine doing the wide surfaces with a router - it could be done, but it seems like you'd be reproducing a precision grinder with a router which I could only imagine would be fairly frustrating. A router could do a nice job on leaving nice sides on the slab though.

There are quite a few examples of wide drum/belt sanders out there for surfacing wide stock. However, I don't think that any of them are anywhere near the cost of a 13" planer. 

I've been using a simple Delta TP-305 planer that I got from Lowes for about $250 - works fine and can handle a fairly heavy load without too much issue. Built a long feed table out of melamine board that sits inside the planer and gives a nice, even feed through it that keeps the stock fairly smooth. 

hth, la


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## demographic (Jun 7, 2009)

LAndrews said:


> I honestly can't imagine doing the wide surfaces with a router - it could be done, but it seems like you'd be reproducing a precision grinder with a router which I could only imagine would be fairly frustrating. A router could do a nice job on leaving nice sides on the slab though.
> 
> There are quite a few examples of wide drum/belt sanders out there for surfacing wide stock. However, I don't think that any of them are anywhere near the cost of a 13" planer.
> 
> ...




I'm pretty sure that BobL has done something like this with a sliding frame that holds a router, I can't seem to find the thread right now.

With a bit of luck he will point to the right thread as he seems a very helpfull chap.


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## valekbrothers (Jun 7, 2009)

*Planing with a router*

Here is a quick and very simple idea for using a router to plane down large slabs.......

http://www.leestyron.com/sled.php

Hope this helps.


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## jkupcha (Jun 7, 2009)

I think it is on the thread "making a slab table" by AggieWoodButcher.


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## Hddnis (Jun 7, 2009)

You basically set up two slides and a cross sliding table that holds the router.

It is not faster than a planer or table sander, but it is far cheaper to set up and leaves a finish ready for final sanding. 

Here is a link to the thread where AWB talks about doing it and it has pictures of his set up.

http://www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=70075&highlight=router+table


Mr. HE


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## demographic (Jun 7, 2009)

Ahh, that would explain why I couldn't find it amongst Bobl's posts.

Its a great setup though and I do like the way he put the inlays in.


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## demographic (Jun 7, 2009)

One point though, once the surface is near enough flat you can just use a jackplane with a crowned cutting iron at an angle to the grain to take the rough off then use a smoothing plane with a rather less crowned cutting iron to finish it off if you want, thats how woodwork benches have been flattened off for centuries.

The old way was to start of planing with a scrub plane with has a very pronounced crown but not many people have them nowadays.

The crowned cutting irons ensure that the centre of the cutting iron takes a shaving but the edges don't, that way you don't end up with nasty tram lines from the sharp corners of the cutting iron.

Its described on this page HERE.

Then the surface was checked for flatness with WINDING STICKS.


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## Mad Professor (Jun 7, 2009)

If the slab(s) is(are) big enough have you considered renting a floor sander?


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## petersenj20 (Jun 7, 2009)

Here's a video I posted on youtube of flattening a very large slab.
Not my slab, but i thought it was neat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t51SSP12Gk8

It actually progresses pretty quick considering the slab. I would prefer this method over skis attached to the router.


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## excess650 (Jun 7, 2009)

That looks to be pretty good method for keeping the surface flat. I wouldn't have thought of using a router for that!

On my own CSM slabs where I'm not concerned about absolute flatness, I just use a hand held belt sander. My Porter-Cable takes 4"x24" belts and does a pretty fair job. 36-40 grit belts get the rough stuff and 120 takes out the heavy sanding marks.



petersenj20 said:


> Here's a video I posted on youtube of flattening a very large slab.
> Not my slab, but i thought it was neat.
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t51SSP12Gk8
> ...


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## chewbacca (Jun 7, 2009)

Hey thanks guys. Lots of good information in these replys.


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## BobL (Jun 7, 2009)

I do have a router mill but it only handles 3 ft by 4 ft slabs. It works very well and will be easy to extend once I get a bigger shed. At the milling yard we just purchased an ancient belt sander that does 9 ft by about 5 ft but it needs some work.


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## PheasantHunter (Jun 7, 2009)

Check out this months issue of Fine Woodworking, I just recieved my copy. There is an article on working with slabs and how to level with a router (it shows the sled).


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## Sawyer Rob (Jun 8, 2009)

A router is the best way i've found to do it too, "IF" you can't find someone with a wide belt sander in your area...

Rob


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## Brmorgan (Jun 9, 2009)

Router sleds work great. I have a setup that's not quite as large or fancy as Aggie's, but it's worked fine for my purposes so far. You need what's called a "Bottom-Cleaning" router bit, or more preferably, a "Bowl & Tray" or "dish-carving" bit. The latter have a rounded edge rather than the straight ~90° corners of a bottom-cleaning bit, and both look more or less like a Forstner drill bit without the point and with carbide cutters. Thus a bowl & tray bit will generally produce a much smoother surface. I've so far found that if I manage to get the feed speed (so to speak) of the router just right it'll produce a surface almost on par with my thickness planer.

Those bits aren't terribly cheap though. I picked up a 1-1/4" Freud B&T bit for something like $75 and it didn't include a bearing to allow it to flush-cut bowl edges like some bit sets do. I managed to find a bearing at a shop locally though and it works fine.


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