# How to flatten rough boards without a jointer



## Bluefilosoff (Mar 25, 2013)

I have a bunch of short rough cut boards (about 16" long and roughly 1.5 " thick and 4-5" wide) which would need to be uniformly flattened on one side in order to run them through a bench top thickness planer. I do not own a jointer. Is there another way I could achieve this? Thanks for any tips.


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## Manuka Jock (Jun 27, 2011)

. :thumbsup: .


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## knotscott (Nov 8, 2007)

A planer sled can simulate the reference face that a jointer gives.


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## TimPa (Jan 27, 2010)

knotscott said:


> A planer sled can simulate the reference face that a jointer gives.


Now there's a sled! nice job.


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## Gene Howe (Feb 28, 2009)

knotscott beat me to it. His pictures are much better, anyway. 
Made mine when the article first appeared in FWW. It works very well.


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## mikeshawjr (Jul 25, 2013)

I just saw this and was curious why you have to have a sled to run it through. I don't have a planer yet but plan to one day. My understanding before reading this was you send it through then turn it over and send it through and u had two flat surfaces. Can you guys correct my understanding of it.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*because...*

A planer removes material off the top of the board while the bottom is pressed into the bed rollers. What ever the bottom is like the top will be similar...oh, eventaully you could get it pretty flat, but it will take several passes.

A twisted board will be much more difficult, that's what a sled accomplishes, it levels out the twist.

A jointer removes material off the bottom and then it rides on the outfeed table all smooth and flat. When the entire surface is smooth and flat, THEN you can use the planer to remove material off the top in a constant thickness from the bottom.


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## mikeshawjr (Jul 25, 2013)

Oh ok thanks. I didn't know that it pressed into something I was thinking it slid across a smooth surface and therefore didn't understand why the sled did anything.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*not all planers have the bottom rollers...*



mikeshawjr said:


> Oh ok thanks. I didn't know that it pressed into something I was thinking it slid across a smooth surface and therefore didn't understand why the sled did anything.


Some planers just have a slick metal plate or a cast iron bed. Either way the bottom of the board has to slide/roll along and the top surface will match the bottom because the work is confined between the two. A jointer on the other hand has no mechanical means to hold the work down against the cutter which is removing material from the bottom surface. The operator controls the pressure downward and can stop the pass any any point, start again and remove additional material if needed. Severely warped or twisted boards are surfaced in this manner. The jointer is not a one pass to a perfectly flat surface operation as a rule.


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