Replies

1. 
   Wichita_Realtor | Sep 23, 2008 08:51pm | #1

   if you ran every board through the planer,
   at least you would know that all pieces are the same thickness

   ,

   (formerly Mr. Fix It ;^0)
2. 
   Frankie | Sep 23, 2008 11:52pm | #2

   I would try to group them in terms of thickness as best I could without going crazy. Install and then sand - maybe first pass on the diagonal if there's a lot of variation between adjacent boards.

   Planing them will dull planer blades for little return. Then there's the time factor. I was also going to factor is noise but that is a wash.

   Remember, you're laying a floor, not building dining room tabletop.

   Frankie

   Flay your Suffolk bought-this-morning sole with organic hand-cracked pepper and blasted salt.

   Thrill each side for four minutes at torchmark haut. Interrogate a lemon.

   Embarrass any tough roots from the samphire. Then bamboozle till it's al dente with that certain je ne sais quoi.

   Arabella Weir as Minty Marchmont - Posh Nosh

3. 
   Piffin | Sep 24, 2008 12:04am | #3

   I've done that with 1/8"+ diff, but it is hard on blades. I think for only a sixteenth, I would deal with it at sanding time.

    

    

   Welcome to the
   Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
    where ...
   Excellence is its own reward!

1. 
   poppa | Sep 30, 2008 08:26am | #4

   Did a test run on about 100 pieces - and ate through one set of blades.  Also tear-out became a factor as the blades dulled. have decided to preassemble sections of flooring about 6 feet by two feet - trying to match thicknesses.  Thanks for the feedback.

2. 
   frenchy | Sep 30, 2008 04:32pm | #5

   Piffin

      What planer do you use?  If you have one of those spiral head planers have you used those carbide inserts yet? 

     I'm looking intently at getting one for my planner (spiral head)  because I've heard such wonderful things about the durability of the cutters and ease of changing them..

    I do have a set of carbide blades for mine to do work on my burl flooring..

1. 
   Piffin | Oct 01, 2008 01:25am | #6

   I have a Grizzly 12" benchtop planer, and my W&H 7", both steel blades. I can gewt carbide for the Griz, I think, but I sharpen my own and th e steel is easier to work with. One of my subs has a large 15" machine in his shop too, and two W&H machines. No carbide anywhere.I have been intrigued by the spiral cutters but never known anybody who used one.
   I would be afraid to send used flooring through a carbide blade, because there would be sure to be a remnant nail left to chip the edge. 

    

   Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!

1. 
   frenchy | Oct 01, 2008 02:04am | #7

   Piffin 

      this is exactly why you'd send used flooring through a spiral planner.  Changing cutting edges is a couple of minutes work and you have 4 cutting edges per cutter.. so if you nick one  you stop, turn off the power, rotate the cutter 90degrees and keep on planning.. Grizzly charges $2.50 per cutter but they are available from severals sources for less..  

    Still at $2.50 a nick just means you have three more good cutting sides left..  So you can figure around 63 cents per nick.. not bad huh? Whole lot better than what it costs to reharpen blades.. I have an attachment to resharpen my blades and I found it was cheaper to send mine in.. When I sharpened them I took more material off so the blades didn't last as long.  Since new blades cost $73 a set for my 20 inch Grizzly it wound up cheaper to have professionals do it.. I could drop them off at the printers service company when I took my wife into work and pick them up the next day.  

    Not to mention that when I sharpened them using my Tormex sharpener (and jig)  they never were as sharp as the printer service company got them..  I'd get more tear out and about half of the planning before they'd be pulled and replaced..

     I could use mine for a morning and by afternoon I'd be replacing them..If I was doing steady planning..  Whereas the printers service blades I could plane all day and part of the next before they needed to be resharpened..

     I wonder just how many sets of planner blades I bought over the years.. I'll bet close to a hundred.. (for all my planners , 2 hand power  6 1/4, one curved based and one 3 1/4 inch, 20 inch Grizzly, 2 Delta bench tops (12 1/2 inches)

     But then over 40,000 bd.ft of wood has gone past those planners.   Most all 4 sides..

1. 
   coonass | Oct 01, 2008 02:14am | #8

   frenchy,I have spiral cutters in my 8" jointer. Glass smooth finish. A friend with a 15" planer with spiral blades makes flooring from old beams. He changes blades once a year after thousands of board feet. He says nails don't even chip them but rocks do.I plan to upgrade my planer to spirals soon. No brainer.KK