Options for flattening wide panels

[MikeMcCoy]

Eddy, you've actually hinted at one of the things that kind of scares me about hand planes, always wanting another one... I'll go ahead and get a jointer plane for now and do some learning (sounds like there's a lot of learning curves with tuning, sharpening, using).

Kirk

Once you start using hand planes, it's almost as big of a vortex as a lathe. After 10 years of letting some nice planes sit in a drawer, I got the bug again and picked up the Veritas Mk II honing jig, a 30 inch piece of glass, and started using sandpaper to do my sharpening. It's quick, cheap and consistent.

[poolhound]

I made a router sled last night out of an old plywood headboard. I tried it out with my nicest bit, a 1/2" CMT, on a 20" wide piece of glued up red oak which I've been experimenting on. I was surprised at how nice the surface turned out (obviously needing clean up but not bad). I'm definitely gonna need a bigger bit though.

Kirk

Not sure if you made one with a fixed base or just the sled. Either way it works the same as a planer that it will essentially duplicate the surface the board is resting on so make sure its flat. Also the rails need to be square and paralel. Likewise the sled base for the router should be flat and not be suseptable to bowing unde the weight of the router or the pressure you are putting on it. As you play with this setup you will see better and better results.

One tip use paste wax on the rails of the jig and guides on the sled it really helps.

Jon

[kirkroy]

Yeah, I made a base and rails out of MDF so I wouldn't even have to think about flatness. The base was then clamped to my table saw so I'd be sure it wasn't deflecting.

I've got the waxing thing down. All contact points were heavily waxed before the router was turned. I don't know how I survived before buying the big tin of paste wax...