Planer thicknessers

[NickDReed]

@TheTiddles I'd never heard of it until a few days ago (that's not saying much, there's plenty I've never heard of). I watched a YouTube video and it looks incredibly versatile. It's likely to be a long and gradual learning curve.

 

[NickDReed]

@Droogs it is @timber who has very kindly offered to sell to me.

 

[Jackbequick]

Hi there

If you must put previously used rough wood through a planer/ thicknesser or any other machine invest in a small handheld metal detector and spend time removing unwanted metal before machining it.

Good thinking ...very good!!...Before reading your comment I was about to suggest a strong magnet...which at least can give indication of ferrous metals.

Much of the wonderful old timbers are today just smashed up by demolishers...who are far more expensive per hour than dentists...when they could be de-nailed and used for other tasks than furniture. In Australia where cedar forests were cut down to extinction scores of years ago and used for many purposes (e.g. furniture and skirting boards) the old 'red rattler' and other early train carriages are a great source of it.

Some excellent timber can be found and reused from old solid timber kitchen cupboards bookcases, bedheads and the like. Metal-ware is easily located in them.

I winced at the idea that a chap doesn't care if his Ryobi planer gets smashed up...I have always considered a broken tool...or a broken drill... to reflect poorly on the user. It can of course come from an anxious user who has ADHD or Aspergers or is alcoholic...rip tear and bust rather than 'thinking it through'.

Big problems are not always 'Swiss cheese' alignment but from a number of small events in handling which lead to sudden catastrophe. When one doesn't care about the small damage, it does grow into missing the symptoms of 'trouble on the way'...Extreme examples are two boys in separate incidents with timber shredders....One fell into a large machine near Sydney Town Hall, decades ago leaning too far, more recently another was dragged through when his arm was caught with sapling he was tying to force through.

Decades ago developers on a building near our construction site at Surrey Hills introduced a dozer for clearing the floors. The floor collapsed under it and it went smashing through , as I recall, 7 floors killing workers as it went. The people did not'think through'their task and very possibly/likely successfully took other risks on other occasions.

The professional thing to do, as I see it, is to thoroughly examine timber for 'shrapnel' nails, screws, projectiles and the like before using it. Such potential destructors can be found occasionally in newly cut timber as well as used.

 

[TheTiddles]

Good thinking ...very good!!...Before reading your comment I was about to suggest a strong magnet...which at least can give indication of ferrous metals.

Much of the wonderful old timbers are today just smashed up by demolishers...who are far more expensive per hour than dentists...when they could be de-nailed and used for other tasks than furniture. In Australia where cedar forests were cut down to extinction scores of years ago and used for many purposes (e.g. furniture and skirting boards) the old 'red rattler' and other early train carriages are a great source of it.

Some excellent timber can be found and reused from old solid timber kitchen cupboards bookcases, bedheads and the like. Metal-ware is easily located in them.

I winced at the idea that a chap doesn't care if his Ryobi planer gets smashed up...I have always considered a broken tool...or a broken drill... to reflect poorly on the user. It can of course come from an anxious user who has ADHD or Aspergers or is alcoholic...rip tear and bust rather than 'thinking it through'.

Big problems are not always 'Swiss cheese' alignment but from a number of small events in handling which lead to sudden catastrophe. When one doesn't care about the small damage, it does grow into missing the symptoms of 'trouble on the way'...Extreme examples are two boys in separate incidents with timber shredders....One fell into a large machine near Sydney Town Hall, decades ago leaning too far, more recently another was dragged through when his arm was caught with sapling he was tying to force through.

Decades ago developers on a building near our construction site at Surrey Hills introduced a dozer for clearing the floors. The floor collapsed under it and it went smashing through , as I recall, 7 floors killing workers as it went. The people did not'think through'their task and very possibly/likely successfully took other risks on other occasions.

The professional thing to do, as I see it, is to thoroughly examine timber for 'shrapnel' nails, screws, projectiles and the like before using it. Such potential destructors can be found occasionally in newly cut timber as well as used.

A person who never damaged a tool... probably never made anything.

 

[Jackbequick]

A person who never damaged a tool... probably never made anything.

Firing a salvo of philosophy eh....LOL!! that's a giant step from the old "the person who never made a mistake never learned anything"?...Breakage isn't an essence of success and I with head hanging down admit to breaking four small diameter drills in 57 years....three x 3mm recently when they jammed on weld when passing through 50mm x 4mm tube.....so I pass muster on manufacture. The first break was in my apprenticeship and I was admonished..."tradesmen do not break tools". Trade qualifications don't automatically confer 'tradesman' and 'competent' these days is anywhere between 40% (the conceded passes to clear classes) and 100%. One only has to watch rip tear and bust on construction sites and with some subcontractors to see that gap.

On your comment however from day one I was told 'we do not break drills'. We also studied them in detail.

I commonly used a brace and bit on timber but as is common today deteriorated into using HSS drills in timber, knowing at least about their vulnerability in that incorrect application. I have broken over my lifespan 3 ring spanners,3 sockets one ratchet and one breaker bar which were made in some tool-wretched place and went nowhere near meeting loading (required) spec's for such tools. Care was not good enough and today you can't just pop down the road and buy quality tools. Other than those I have never broken a tool and still have tools from my apprenticeship.

I made a statement about 'forcing' power tools. whether circular saws band saws, sabresaws, jigsaws, drilling machines, planers....and so on and also pressure operated hand tools on...that most tools are made to cut under their own weight and even striking tools (hammers, mallets and the like) have limitations..weight selection being as important as handle quality. No matter how hot-shot one thinks they are or proclaims 'professional' the person who breaks a tool owing to misuse overuse or abuse has portrayed an amateurism and a flaw in their ability, attitude or character. The applies also to me and breaking a drill caused me to reflect with self recrimination on those matters and to take extremes of care, still failing alas....but I have never taken the view that it's ok to break a tool...though there are perhaps millions around that ought to be crushed for human safety and a decent manufacturing industry recommenced in nations which once produced good tools.