Hands down the best woodworking video I’ve ever seen. Guys voice was like a human robot - perfect - step by step instruction- check - perfect camera angle - check. Short , useful and not a SINGLE wasted word. I’d say perfect. Make more.
I have a similar jig made of melamine. I put a stop on one end and then used double sided tape to hold down a rubbery cloth like material that you would put in a drawer or tool box drawer that keeps the board from moving. No glue is needed, it's held up good. This does work well with wide boards, saves a lot of time. I still use a small jointer to put an edge on the board.
This falls into the category of the things I didn't know I didn't know. This shows a great option for a challenging problem when you don't own a jointer but do have a planer. The other thing I found interesting is the way you've supported the ends of the fold down in-feed and out-feed tables with bolts on your table, presumably to help reduce snipe. I took this into consideration when designing my flip top table on which to mount my planer. Thanks!
@Daemon, if he wasn’t thorough in his “teaching video” there would be more questions regarding details. Just watched another planer sled video, the guy had to make a 2nd video just to address some of the questions!
Just tried this technique and it worked like a charm. I was having difficulty flattening 8 ft long 10 inch wide boards with the handplane. (I sold my 6 inch jointer a few months ago) I was constantly chasing my tail. .Boards shorter than 4 ft. were easy enough but the long ones were proving difficult for me with their compound twists and curves. I had some spare MDF in the back shed and it took about an hour to fabricate an 8 ft. sled. I have enough MDF remaining and will make a shorter 4 ft. sled as well. Since I have about 30 longer boards to mill this will now shorten the task. I wasn't looking forward to all that handplaning:) Thanks Tim
Great video. I've been using a similar method for years. The only difference is that the technique i use has a removable stop block at both ends to hold any piece of stock securely. Then i use playing cards to shim the gaps, counting the cards to stabilize the wobble equally on both ends (and anywhere else along the way) - this maximizes final thickness.
I purchased a DW735X, and used this method to help create a top for the workbench I'm making. With 7 8' 2x4's glued face to face, it was quite strenuous to maneuver, but it did a Wonderful job. I used an 8'x1x12 MDF with laminated oak (sold for making a shelf) and attached a small strip to the front as a stop, and used the shims as Tim suggested. I needed to create some supports for the sled to ride on before and after the planer... this just took 4 more 2x4s cut just less than the bed of the planner. Works like a dream... very slick. I'll be doing this for smaller pieces in the future, and simply using a jointing plane for all else.Thanks for saving me the need for a jointer.
This absolutely saved my behind! What a great tip! I have been struggling with squaring 2x12 inch 5 foot boards. Needless to say I had no clue how to get the cup/curve/twine out of them until I saw this video. (Also gave the me kick in the pants I needed to buy a nice depth planer). Thank you for this tip!
I built this sled and used this method. It works perfectly. Its saved me hours and hours. Thanks for this video. Two things: that amount of hot glue isn't necessary, and the hot glue does stick to the mdf enough that it pulls out small chunks so eventually I'll need to design a new sled with a replaceable top piece.
I made this exactly as he describes in the video and have used it on a piece 1.5" rough-sawn walnut. It was REALLY easy and cheap to make compared to those in other videos and it works perfectly. I was amazed at how easily the glue and shims came off, there was no residue left behind on the sled or the walnut. The board came out perfectly flat. There is a reason they say "Keep it Simple, Stupid".
Wow, this is an awesome tip, thank you! This gave me an idea : instead of using glue and shims I plan on making a planer sled with dog holes that allow clamps to be put in that will stabilize the board.
all great except for one thing. before making the first cut, check both ends for the highest surface, if you don't, you could take off a minuscule amount of stock at the beginning, but take too much off at the end, and cause damage to the planer.
This....is.....exACTLY what I was looking for. I've been staring at these 3 pieces for 2 weeks wondering how I'm going to flatten them. I'm gonna start up on that jig tomorrow and hopefully by the evening have 3 flat boards.
Great video. I've used this method for nearly 30 years and found it to be superior to using a standard jointer as it removes the human error from the job. As far as " incredible waste of time", the guy obviously knows little about woodworking.
OLD original post, but seems (without laboriously scanning the prior 133 comments) to need a couple comments. This is mainly a post bitching about how people call face-planing "jointing". 1) (trivial) This is NOT jointing, it is face planing. Jointing provides an edge square to a board's face, and utilizes the jointer's fence to provide a square reference surface and cut another surface square to that reference. The function performed in this video is flattening, and requires only two parallel table surfaces with a slight offset (equal to thickness of planing cut). 2) With respect to jointing...if one adopts this very fine method of FACE PLANING with a sled, using a sufficiently wide thickness planer, the largest jointer he would need is one with a width equal to or greater than the thickness of the wood he wishes to joint (SQUARE). That said, yes, it is often quite more convenient to have a jointer that can face plane a wide board, but it is not necessary if one possesses a thickness planer and sled of sufficient width. I get ALL the milling I need to do completed perfectly with a 13" lunch-box planer, a sled, and a 6" jointer. I won't go into great detail, just Google the words I've used and understand their meaning. I truly wish that all the woodworking luminaries on RU-vid and other places would stop ignorantly calling face-planing "jointing".
I thought about doing this, but with thin layer of expanding foam mix under board. Sled could be reused using drawknife to remove foam. Might be quicker? Not tried it yet of course, but soon.
Great video; thanks, Blue decorators masking tape stuck to the surface helps to stop hot glue sticking MDF is not compatible with Hot Glue for constant repetitive work - it damages the MDF
Nice presentation. I tried something similar but, frankly, I goofed up and really didn't take enough care in my jig and my setup. If I have a similar problem pop up, I am certainly going to tackle the problem again.
The planer pulls the board through so it will pull the board against the stop. If it were on the rear the planer would just pull the board away from the stop.
Just started my second year of wood shop in high school and I love it. I actually understood what he was saying. The only downside is that I'm allergic to the dust when you sand the wood, trees, nature seasons etc. So I'm always sniffing and sneezing in that class. Anyone have a similar problem and found some good vitamins or something that helped. I know that's what doctors are for but just curious.
Jesus Cuevas, I have significantly reduced my dust, grass, etc., allergies by taking Barley Green daily and 1000 to 2000 of vit C. The Barley Green is grown and processed in Japan by a Dr. W. Get the original it is a little expensive but taking a tablespoon a day with juice or something that you like, will help with the green grass taste. It takes about 3 or 4 weeks to really notice a difference but it will come. My daughter also takes it with good results.
I've watched a few videos on this method. Some put the cleat on the leading edge of the sled while other put in on the trailing end of the sled. Which is best or does it matter.
We recently lumbered a 36" maple, a 36" white ash, and a 32" pecan. After drying, we tried planing with a Rigid (Home Depot) 13" planer with 2 HSS knives ru-vid.comUgkxIzvvTi3_Qc8JnVdYYRJCvuoDC4QjTzeL . This job was clearly too much for that machine. The pecan was particularly difficult, due to heavy mineral deposits, and a sharp pair of HSS knives would be consumed by a mere 3 boards. We were also having lots of problems from chip bruising, due to poor dust collection. The shavings came off like straw and jammed in the 4" hose.We bought the DW735 simply to be able to run carbide blades, which worked brilliantly for the pecan. However, we found it to be a much, MUCH nicer machine. It was far more rigid than the "Rigid" planer, and far more accurate as well. But what I liked most about it was the dust feed. This machine has its own blower, which shreds the "straw" like shavings as they come off the cutting head and helps boost the shavings into the dust collection system. No more clogs! It's also nicely sealed so that the internals stay quite clean. This is just a well tempered machine that's a delight to use. It literally cut the labor in half. Just another example of getting what you pay for.
I think I may have the same planer as you in the video. Is it a 13" Ridgid R4331? If so, exactly how wide can the sled be? Just curious if it needs to slightly less than 13" or if it can be 13". Thanks.
Great video, so after you plane both sides, if you go to your table saw and cut a thin strip from both sides along the length, would the board you have in front of you be true all the way around? Im trying to understand this concept better so I will know if I still need a jointer. It would really be nice to get away with only have one machine, even if it takes a special sled or a little bit longer process. Thanks for any insight. Keep up the great work.
You still would need a jointer for edge jointing. This method only does face jointing. Alternatively, there are a ton of videos showing how to edge joint without a jointer by using your table saw, or router, etc.
Because the pressure rollers are pushing the wood through the planer, if the stop wasn't there the wood could separate from the sled and be pushed through independently.
Could this be done using a router and planer jig? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I figure a router with that jig works similar to a thickness planer, so I would imagine it'd work all the same. Obviously I haven't got the money or space yet for a planer and jointer...
A jointer is used for flattened or truing a board. If you are jointing an edge, e.g. when book matching, both edge need to be square and the jointer is used. Now what if you want a true and flat board. An example might be where you want a glue a flap decorative top on a piece of cheaper timber. Both surfaces need to be flat and true to each other. If the pieces don't fit in your jointer than it's time to get out the hand plane. BUT if the boards do fit in your planer thicknesser then you can use a sled to get them both true to each other. The sled is needed because if you put a warped board in a planer it will come out just as warped but, of course, of uniform thickness along the warped face. The sled keeps the bottom of the board from flexing under the rollers by filling the space under the warped areas of the board in question. Thus, the result is a true, flat board on one face. You can then remove the sled completely and flip the board over. Now the bottom face is flat (the face you just planed) the other side can be made true as well.
+Matthew udontneedtoknow I use a cut off piece before the work piece and after it. Usually the same one, as it comes out of the machine I move it to the back of the piece. The snipe lands on the cut off.
+Matthew udontneedtoknow Are you supporting the work piece as it's going in and out? My manual suggests slightly lifting the end both as it is going in and coming out.
+nokia3210fuck If your boards are not too wide you can also use the same trick on a planer just mount the board vertically.  Or use a router table as a jointer there are some good videos on that. Or use the table saw there are a hundred good videos on that too.
+Rob I That's no different. You just need to support the high spots on the board, so either flip it with the edges curved down and put something down the middle of the board to support the higher center (not as easy), or flip it with the edges curved up and use shims like in this video to support the higher edges (easier). Then run it through the planer a few times until its flat.
Glue, shims, sawing... all to face joint one board? That's an absurd amount of work/time for one board. Just take the guide off of your 8 inch jointer and joint 8 inches of your 12 inch board. Then use a sled like the one shown in the video (only more narrow) and support only the jointed 8 inches with the sled. Let the unjointed part of the surface hang off and send it through the planer. Your board is now level and the planer will give you a nice true surface. Take off the sled, flip your board over and run it through the planar to finish jointing those remaining 4 inches off your board. That process is just three passes through the machines: Partially surface joint side A -> put it on the sled with side A facing down (with only the jointed surface resting on the sled) -> plane side B -> take off sled, flip over board and plane side A to finish the face joint. No shims, glue, hand sawing.
I like your method, but I think in practice, you still end up making more than three passes, and you are still using a sled. Also 8" is decently wide for a jointer. Some people have only a 4" or 6" jointer.
This is SUPER quick compared to building a professional planer sled jig.. Plus, wood working is about patience. I'd rather build a product correctly by taking my time, then half-assing it because it was "too time consuming". Separates the pros from the apprentices.
