# Red Neck Planer Sled



## MT Stringer (Aug 15, 2012)

I don't really know what you call this contraption, but it worked great. I had a pair of 4/4 rough walnut boards that were slightly twisted and somewhat bowed.

I have heard of people doing this before and thought i would give it a shot, especially since the boards are $9.75 bd/ft! I managed to save about 50 dollars worth of lumber.

I ripped four identical pieces of lumber and glued them to each side of the boards This made it easy to glue up everything at once, just be careful what gets glue and what does not. :surprise:

I left the boards in the clamps for about an hour and 1/2. Then cleaned off the excess glue. By then, the glued had been curing for 2 hours or more. I got side tracked a couple of times while cleaning them up.

Next step was to fire up the planer and start running them through on one side. I made 1/32 cuts until the outer "rails" were just about even with the boards, then made each additional pass at 1/64 inch. I figured if I made light passes, the rollers wouldn't be putting as much strain of the joints. Who knows. It worked and that is all that matters.

When I got one side of each board even with the rails, I turned them over and continued to plane them down. As it turns out, I had just enough material to allow me to get a finished thickness of 3/4 inch.

Note: If you look closely at the pictures you can see where I marked the uneven parts with a black marker.

The last step was to rip off the "rails". The boards are now ready for use.

I hope you find this info helpful.
Mike


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Excellent idea, Mike!
Just to clarify, the white lumber is just SPF framing lumber? You jointed it to dead straight first?
The Walnut is just lying in its natural state; maybe lifted a tich at the lowest corner to split the difference? (But no torque added)
Sounds like the answer for those of us with 6" jointers...and 8+" boards.


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## MT Stringer (Aug 15, 2012)

Thanks Dan. My "rails" were made from a piece of poplar and a piece of pine bead board. I ripped them to 1 1/4 inch so they would protrude above the walnut. No twisting of the walnut, just laid the rails beside the walnut and clamped until the glue was dry.


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## gmercer_48083 (Jul 18, 2012)

Mike, Hot Glue works good for this.


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## old coasty (Aug 15, 2014)

Great idea Mike. Beats the involved sleds with moveable blocks to keep the boards from flexing.


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

Nothing 'red neck' about that, Mike.

Works great if you don't have a jointer.


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## thomas1389 (Jan 4, 2012)

A great idea. Our walnut is $7.00 a board foot, home grown or Peruvian, still too expensive to toss.


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## Arcola60 (Jul 4, 2009)

Thanks Mike, 
I have seen this process used before. It works great! Thanks for sharing it with everyone

Ellery Becnel


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