By Dick Sowa (aka Sawdust)

My Dust Collector

Dresser Restoration and matching Nightstand and matching cedar blanket chest and the headboard and footboard that started it all.

Wooden Bowls

Segmented Bowl Table Saw Sled

I have always wanted a thickness planer, and maybe some day I will break down and get one. But in the meantime, this works GREAT. I got the idea from a magazine or web site quite a few years ago, but don't recall where. The only problem with this setup, is that it is hard work...you really have to push and pull the wood through the thing manually. No power infeed/outfeed rollers to make life easy. But as long as your jointer knives are sharp, it does just as good a job as any thickness planer you can buy.

The only drawback is that it is limited to the width of your jointer...in my case, 6" wide. Overall thickness can be virtually anything, and only governed by the length of threaded rods you use, and how many spacers to make.

Here's how to do it...step by step.

First, remove the fence and blade guard. Then, drill and tap the 4 holes on the infeed table, outside of the width of your cutter knives. These holes will be used later to accept some threaded rod. See below.

While you have the jointer cleaned off, now is a good time to apply a generous coat of paste wax...good for protecting the steel from rust, and making it easier to slide your work over the surface. This jointer is 25 years old, and it looks as good as new because I keep the surfaces waxed.

The wooden strips have been steam bent. To do it, just soak them in water for several hours, apply heat (if you borrow your wife's iron, don't tell her :) ), bend to shape, and let cool.

Then run to the hardward store and buy some 3/4 wide by 1/8" thick aluminum strips. Also get some 1" square tubing. You will need to cut 6" long pieces from them both, drill/cut holes to match the holes you drilled in the infeed table, and slightly larger than the threaded rod diameter. I have about 10 pieces of tubing, and about 30 of the strips, and that seems enough for my needs.

Cut a couple pieces of plywood...maybe 12" long, by about 8" wide. Size them so they overlap the holes you drilled and tapped in your infeed table by about 3/4 inch on each side, and extend beyond the cutter knives about 4-6". Glue and screw the plywood together, so you have a thick piece...1-1/2 inches thick. I don't know if it needs to be that thick, but that was what the original plans called for, and it works well.

Drill holes to match your infeed table holes, and insert threaded rod throgh the plywood and screw into the infeed table holes about 3-4 turns...enough to make sure it won't come out with vibration. Then use some wingnuts and washers to tighten it down over some of the aluminum spacers. Make sure you have the same combination of spacers on both sides, so the plywood is horizontal.

That's it...you now have a thickness planer!

In operation, you will push the stock under the plywood, and on top of the steam bent pressure sticks. Adjust your table height to shave just a bit off of the board you are thicknessing. The pressure sticks will hold it tight against the bottom face of the plywood, and all you will need to do is shove it through.

Of course, you can't shove it all the way through, so you need to go around to the other end and pull it through to complete the cut. I recommend waxing the bottom of the plywood, and the steam bent pressure sticks...makes sliding the wood through a lot easier.