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I am just wondering whether anyone uses their safe-t-planer to thickness their tops....because I notice even people who use them for their backs and sides opt to use a hand plane for the top? why is this?
cheers
Grant

I can only guess that there would be too much opportunity for tearout on the softer wood.

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Waddy

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It's a fairly quick (and pleasant) job to thickness a softwood top with a sharp hand plane. Some builders who own thickness sanders (big ones) still thickness tops by hand because it's faster and more fun.
The only problem is that you have to avoid getting 'carried away' by the nice shavings and ending up with a too-thin top!

Cheers
John

Grant,

Working a top by hand is one of my favourite tasks when building a guitar. Instead of the whine of a drill I prefer the sound of a razor sharp plane slicing off transparent thin spruce shavings followed by the very tactile process of working to final thickness with a cabinet scraper.

Oh yeah nearly forgot...ya cant sip on a glass of fine Aussie red while working a safe-T-planer.....but its perfectly compatable with working a plane or a cabinet scraper!!

Safety Planer's more of a VB type of tool.

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Bob Connor
Geelong, Australia

Someone mention beer???

Todd is right I do most of my thicknessing with the safety planer. I have done tops with it including cedar, just finishing off with the ROS or drum sander after hogging off the bulk with the planer.

Again Todd is right it is the sharpness of the tool which is critical. I always sharpen my blades as soon as I've finished using the planer, I never put it away blunt. That way I'm never tempted to use it without it being sharp. I'm assuming a level, extended table, and a fence with hold down. Don't take too big a bites at a time and everything should be fine.

Mostly though I do tend to thickness my tops with a plane, nowadays. As others have said there is something extremely satisfying about planing a good bit of spruce. 90 year old spruce and a 90 year old plane, what can be better?

What I never do is thickness any of my plates entirely in the drum sander. To me, especially the size ones that we smaller builders are likely to have, drum sanders are finishing sanders not thicknessers.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Just don't try to thickness small pieces like headstock veneer. The SP will grab it and gouge it.  I have more fear of this thing than just about any other tool in my shop.  The difficult thing with this tool is being able to hold it down well while moving your work under it - easier to do with larger pieces.

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A higher purpose for wood.
Rich Smith
Issaquah, WA

I use a SP for everything except the top. The main reason for me is because I always join the top at its full thickness, then inlay the rosette and sand it down with a ROS. Then I flip it over and hand plane from the back side. The reason I can't SP a joined top from the back is because my drill press is small, and it will not accomodate a 16" wide board. Too many passes to get it down, and it is actually faster by hand planing! Good luck!
Tracy

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Tracy
http://www.luthiersuppliers.com

I thickness everything with my Safe T Planer, tops, B&S, headplates, rossette materials etc. etc. Take small bites and hold on tight and move slow, I have not had any problems.

Mike

[QUOTE=Ricardo] Just don't try to thickness small pieces like headstock veneer. The SP will grab it and gouge it. I have more fear of this thing than just about any other tool in my shop. The difficult thing with this tool is being able to hold it down well while moving your work under it - easier to do with larger pieces.
[/QUOTE]

You should really only use this tool on a drill press where the quill can be locked down in the position you want it, so that both hands can be used to manipulate the wood. I would think it dangerous in the extreme to hold the planer at the thickness you want it with one hand on the press handle while moving the wood with the other. If your press can't be locked down at the thickness you want it for the planer then don't use a safe-T planer at all if you want to keep all of your fingers.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

I would agree with that for sure.  It takes two hands to hold down the work-piece.

Do you guys, who use it, follow the directions and cut cross grain first, or do you go straight to planing with the grain?  Or are the cross grain cuts for removing more wood than is usually required in thicknessing backs, tops or sides?

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Waddy

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Hey Grant

If you want to bring your top down to Geelong you can use our thickness sander.

Send me a PM if your are interested.

Cheers

Bob

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Bob Connor
Geelong, Australia

I use mine a lot and like it very much.I've had no problem thicknessing my tops.As Mike said above take small bites and go slow.

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

Agreed with Colin, if your Drill Press does not have a position lock, don't use the safe t planer or by a drill press that does.

My set up is like Dave's above and I go mostly with the grain like you see in the photo above, however on headplates and rossette materials I could be going in a variety of grain directions. If you don't get in a hurry and you are set up right, this tool is very easy and clean on the cuts.

Mike

I've used a Saf-T-Planer for about thirty years, thicknessing everything and using it to rough contour archings too. Aside from leveling the table and keeping it sharp, you must set it up right. I found, when I got a new one a few years ago, that the cutters had not been lapped flat after they were hardened, and the pockets they went in also had bottoms that were not really flat. The combination caused the cutters to shift a bit when I started a pass, and the uneven cut would grab and throw the work. Scraping the pockets, and lapping the cutters, tamed that one. I drill press plane to +.2mm and then take a few very light cuts with a sharp hand plane and scraper.

The main reason I never bought one is that I don't have a drill press that will let me get accurate results, or even lock the quill in plae properly.

Building a thickness sander is going to be more effective and cheaper than buying a decent press, for me. For tops, I'm sticking with hand planes.

[QUOTE=Alan Carruth]I've used a Saf-T-Planer for about thirty years, thicknessing everything and using it to rough contour archings too. Aside from leveling the table and keeping it sharp, you must set it up right. I found, when I got a new one a few years ago, that the cutters had not been lapped flat after they were hardened, and the pockets they went in also had bottoms that were not really flat. The combination caused the cutters to shift a bit when I started a pass, and the uneven cut would grab and throw the work. Scraping the pockets, and lapping the cutters, tamed that one. I drill press plane to +.2mm and then take a few very light cuts with a sharp hand plane and scraper. [/QUOTE]

OK, I'll bite!

1. When you say lapped flat, do you mean flattened on the side that goes against the flat part of the pocket that you also had to flatten?
2. How did you accomplish flattening the pocket, and maintaining the "dead flatness" you need to guarantee evenness at the cutters edge?
3. When you sharpen the cutters, do you use a jig similar to the one they suggest, or do you just hold them in your hand, as is also a suggested method?

Mine seems to grab a lot, and I'm wondering if I might have the same problems.  I have only used it a little, but it does seem very "grabby".
How do I check it out?  I guess I should take it apart first, huh?

_________________
Waddy

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Sound Clips of most of my guitars

I sharpen the cutters as suggested in the SM guide, with the cutter held in a drill vice. Take care not just to follow the flat of the cutter or you'll end up just cutting the edged section off!



Colin

_________________
I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

well survey looks about 50/50....
and as i already use a safe-t-planer and it does run pretty smooth I may as well use it....
I am also interested in thicknessing by handplane and a glass of red as that sounds pretty therapeutic....
cheers everyone

Pity you're down there in cold old Melbourne. If you were up here in Sydney you could come and use my thickness sander no problem.

I used a rigid scraper to flatten the bottoms of the pockets. The part was a good quality investment casting, and was 'flat' by many standards, but not flat enough for this application. It only took a few minutes to remove the small amount of material needed to get it truly flat.

I lapped both sides of the cutters. I actually used a grind wheel in my Dremel to remove material from the center of the cutter, so that only the edges needed to be lapped. Again, with that done it did not take long to lap the surfaces on a diamond stone so that they'd seat properly. You must check to be sure that all three cutters end up the same thickness, or one will be doing all the work, and the tool will still grab.

I just hand sharpen. I wish I could get another one of those wheels without having to buy the whole outfit! The second one I bought did not come with the wheel, and mine is getting pretty small after 30 years of use!

Alan:

From the owner's manual,
G&W Tool, Inc
PO Box 691464
Tulsa, OK 74169-1464
phone: 918-486-2761

I think you can get cutters and sharpening stone from them if your supplier doesn't sell them.

_________________
Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars