# Power Hand Planer or Belt Sander



## Jayhawk714 (Jan 17, 2015)

I have several wood slabs I am going to make into a dinner table and end tables. To remove all of the milling saw groves a lot of material has to come off. What do you believe would work best a power hand planer or a belt sander.


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## tylerdru90 (Aug 17, 2016)

Jayhawk714 said:


> I have several wood slabs I am going to make into a dinner table and end tables. To remove all of the milling saw groves a lot of material has to come off. What do you believe would work best a power hand planer or a belt sander.




If you have a router then a router sled would work well to flatten it and take some of the rough sawn stuff. Then finish it up with a belt sander. 


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## allpurpose (Mar 24, 2016)

Be ambitious. Use a scrub plane and follow up with a good sharp smoothing plane and invest in a 
blister control firm.


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## Masterofnone (Aug 24, 2010)

Jayhawk714 said:


> I have several wood slabs I am going to make into a dinner table and end tables. To remove all of the milling saw groves a lot of material has to come off. What do you believe would work best a power hand planer or a belt sander.


There are multiple videos on YouTube showing router jigs for smoothing large wooden tops. The Wood Whisper probably has one of the better ones.

Belt sanders and power planers are fine but can be tricky to get dialed in. You can very easily end up knocking off too much.


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## Toolman50 (Mar 22, 2015)

Unless you just need the cardiovascular workout, I recommend you load your boards up and drive to a near shop and run everything through their planer. Very small charge. Very quick. The results will be all of your boards will be smooth and even for you to start your project. Much quicker and easier than building a router sled you may not use again for years. 
After glue-up you can still practice your planing, scraping and sanding. 
For woodworkers who don't own a planer, I recommend buying wood S4S.


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## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

Toolman50 said:


> Unless you just need the cardiovascular workout, I recommend you load your boards up and drive to a near shop and run everything through their planer. Very small charge. Very quick. The results will be all of your boards will be smooth and even for you to start your project. Much quicker and easier than building a router sled you may not use again for years.
> After glue-up you can still practice your planing, scraping and sanding.
> For woodworkers who don't own a planer, I recommend buying wood S4S.


I tried that with my local shop and they that they do not do that.

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## Toolman50 (Mar 22, 2015)

Chris Curl said:


> I tried that with my local shop and they that they do not do that.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk


In that case I would look for another shop. Cabinet shops can be accommodating. Even another woodworking hobbyist with the equipment can become your new friend. 
Offer to pay for the service even if it means buying lunch.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*You will need both*

There's only one tool that can screw up a surface faster than a hand held belt sander and that's a hand held power plane. Both require considerable time to get the feel of just how they work, how a little tip or tilt make a big difference in how much comes off and where.

To just remove saw marks left by the mill I would start with a belt sander if you don't like manual labor. The advice about a scrub plane is good as well. The amount of camber to the blade can be reduced a bit to make it less aggressive.

I used a belt sander and a power plane and a hand plane on this door build:
http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/f2/door-build-2-xs-1-4-ply-55717/


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## Rebelwork (Jan 15, 2012)

Toolman50 said:


> In that case I would look for another shop. Cabinet shops can be accommodating. Even another woodworking hobbyist with the equipment can become your new friend.
> Offer to pay for the service even if it means buying lunch.


The price of belts are becoming high and a lot of shops aren't willing to take the chance...


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## Cowpokey (Feb 10, 2017)

Sure, a hand held power planer can do some damage you're not careful, but they can also work very well leveling up a large surface.


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