Best way to get planks smooth after milling?

[jamesd]

I've got a fair few planks of Oak that i have milled now and am wandering what the best method would be to get the surface of the planks as smooth as possible?

I was thinking a sander or maybe a planer?

 

Cheers, James.

[bellringer]

Planner will work

[muttley9050]

Hi tech way is a thickness planer. But there quite dear. I can recommend the dewalt dw733, consider second hand as there very well made.

Low tech way would be either a scrub plane or no5 plane. This takes a bit if skill and practice. Easiest way would be a belt sander but you won't get as good a surface as with a hand plane.

James

[Stompy]

Best bet would be to find a joinery shop who would be willing to run them over the surface planer and then through the thicknesser (planer)....... you'll get perfect boards that way which will only need sanding up.

 

Alot of work to do it by hand and takes some practice. As above hand plane would be your best. Half the the work is taken out of the job by making sure your plane iron is sharp..... as you probably know working with blunt tools is a waste of time.

[se7enthdevil]

if you do it by hand then make sure the blade is dam sharp.

[Daniël Bos]

If you've only just milled them I'd wait until the planks are dry, unless the surface is really really bad, in which case I might consider a rough plane...

[jamesd]

I know a local joinery shop but their planer/thicknesser is not very wide so could probably only accept boards up to 12" wide i reckon. Which is a bit annoying otherwise it would of been a no brainer!

Might have a look around to see if there is anyone else near me.

either that or by a hand planer myself!

[shillo]

I had a local joiner to get stuff planed down. wish i hadn't bothered as their planer was blunt, ripped knots out, left lines in it etc. I wish i had just belt sanded them. Hand planing is good but hard to get plank dead flat.

[Graham w]

i got a 24 inch x 8 inch planer thicknesser, pto driven for massive beams and site work but there isnt any wood where i am so its a fail!

[bobh]

i got a 24 inch x 8 inch planer thicknesser, pto driven for massive beams and site work but there isnt any wood where i am so its a fail!

 

You need to get some photos of that up here

 

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