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LeeWay Workshop |
November 21, 2008 |
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Router sled planer
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This is a sled that I made a couple years back before I bought a portable planer. It can help you to get a clean face on some rough sawn lumber. This particular sled was just made from some scraps that I had around. It will plane from 1 1/8" thick down to about 1/2". You can just use this to get the idea. You could make one with adjustable runners, which might be more useful than this one.
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I used 1" steel angle on this. You could just as easily use 1/4" flat aluminum stock or angle. Just drill the holes to match your particular router. This sled is about 12" x 12".ou could make a larger size, if needed, or make this adjustable. I use a 5/8" dado bit, but you can use different sizes.
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I used a caul clamp to clamp this to my work benc. You could use bench dogs to hold stock that has finished dimensions. A cutting board for instance. One good thing about this planing method is that you don't get the "Snipe" that can be associated with some portable planers. This lets you plane stock that are already at the finished size. Another plus for using a sled to plane is that you are able to clamp very small pieces and plane them. You can't send a 5" long piece of stock through a thickness planer very easily.
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Here you can see that I have planed some 5/8" thick walnut that I scavenged from some pallets. I like to use this stuff for jigs or small projects. I keep this kind of salvaged wood around for at least a year. Pallet wood is usually really wet. It will cup and bow and tie itself in knots if its left to dry without proper stacking and stickering. This piece was flat after about 1 1/2 years. At this thickness, its as dry as it will get in my area.
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