finishing large slabs

[justin131]

milled some elm recently and have a load of large slabs I thought would make nice table tops. have no experience with finishing wood and these are much to large for planning some of them being over 3 foot wide. is there a good way of finishing them or should I cut them down into smaller planks and take them to a joiner? thanks

[detritus21]

Sander if you want to keep them large. I use a flap disc on a grinder, belt sander and use different grit. Also did have an electric planer which works well

[TheHungrySquirrel]

The quickest way would be to find a local firm with a wide belt sander to out them through for a couple of quid

 

If not then as above some electric sanders and patience.

[Big Beech]

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/milling-forum/85031-turning-your-rough-boards-into-lovely-smooth-ones.html

[Kenty]

I use the arbor tech turbo plane.

It's not for the faint hearted but can remove a serious amount of wood quickly.

[brisbane trees]

I've used electric planers but found it to be very difficult to get an even finish. They do remove wood fast, so they're good for removing uneven cut marks from a saw. I learned a lesson about buying good quality, though. Really cheap ones are useless.

 

I'd then go down to flap discs on an angle grinder followed by sanding. I agree about going to a wood workshop to have them pump it through their thicknesser and planer if you can afford it, though.