# Planing slabs



## botanical (Jun 22, 2018)

Hi there,

I just joined the forum recently as I'm new to routing. The reason was that I have come into possession of some Elm slabs and want to make some tables. I got a lot of really good advice on the 'introduce yourself' page about ski's and stuff and which bits might work. I'm in the UK and large diameter bottom planing bits appear to be hard to find ( Infinity were out of stock ). Someone recommended Freud bits but even then I had to get it sent from the US. There's an opportunity here somewhere to corner the market.

Anyway I want to thank everyone for the sage advice and the reading materials. These slabs are quite large so I was a little daunted with the idea of starting. However after many encouraging posts I decided to have a go, if only on a scaled down version so I made a 'ski' box and a sled about 2'x4' and played around with some Cherry offcuts. I am very happy with the experience and also the results and now feel much better about starting my big project. So thanks to all of you who imparted advice, there are too many to mention which says a lot about the community here. Thankyou.

PS sorry the picture is odd, haven't sorted how to rotate images yet.


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## Gene Howe (Jul 10, 2007)

Nice work, Bo. What bit did you end up using? Don't know if you can get a bowl bit but, they work well for flattening.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

I've never had a problem I couldn't handle, IF I thought it through thorouthly before starting on it. I guess there just aren't enough woodworkers in the UK to justify stocking a number of stores. Even in the US, there are hundreds of miles between woodworking stores, so, many of us wind up ordering online.


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## sreilly (May 22, 2018)

It seems the older I get the more it takes to do something "new". I tend to overthink it sometimes and when I finally get started it turns out the worry was really not needed. Not rushing in makes sense as long as it doesn't paralyse you from doing the project. The worst that could happen is you make a mistake and learn something new. As long as it's carefully done you'll have either accomplished the project or learned a lesson that should build up your skills. My closest woodworking store is 90 minutes away but Amazon is but a click. Probably by design for my own sake. 

Looks like you're on your way. Good luck.


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

I've had excellent service from bits like this from China.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-2-Shan...396023?hash=item4b484a9ab7:g:MZEAAOSwIBNbQDhL


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## gmercer_48083 (Jul 18, 2012)

Bo, To fix orientation of your pictures, upload your photo to your pc,s photo editor, rotate it to orient (even when it looks right), save...then upload it to routerforums. For unknown reasons photos from your cell phones seem to only display correctly on the phone.


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

I use "paint.net" which is a FREE program and I find it better that "paint" which is part of windows. Here you can turn, adjust brightness, colour, contrast etc. and add text.
The more you use it the easier it gets.

https://www.getpaint.net/


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## Web Shepherd (Feb 8, 2012)

For a woodworking forum, I certainly learn more about computer technology. Thanks, Harry, for sharing the link to paint.net I will have to check it out.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

I use Irfanview for some of the same reasons but it also gives me an opportunity to annotate the photos as Harry did in his.


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