Smoothing out bigger wood with a small planner

[TmAfterTm]

I've been messing around learning how to cut wood with my little Wee portable sawmill and then smoothing it out with my old Scheppach planer/thicknesser.
I've been getting by okay so far.

But now I need to work on some bigger pieces of wood for deep window sills and countertops. My planer definitely isn't wide enough for these! I want to know what everyone else does when they need to smooth surfaces that are bigger than their planer.

I want to do it myself than pay people to do this. Do you guys have any tips or tricks?

 

[numbercrunch]

You can cut the wood to the widths that fit your saw mill. that's what I do most of the time

 

[KnockKnock]

I've been messing around learning how to cut wood with my little Wee portable sawmill and then smoothing it out with my old Scheppach planer/thicknesser.
I've been getting by okay so far.

But now I need to work on some bigger pieces of wood for deep window sills and countertops. My planer definitely isn't wide enough for these! I want to know what everyone else does when they need to smooth surfaces that are bigger than their planer.

I want to do it myself than pay people to do this. Do you guys have any tips or tricks?

A router sled's been my go to, its cheap and works well if you've got a router. Hand planes can work too if you're up for the effort, then belt sander's good for smoothing after. You joining boards or working full slabs?

 

[Stealth.lord]

I've always been a fan of a big ol' jointer plane, they get the job done too with a bit more sweat. although some people use a belt sander to finesse things after rough leveling, but it's not as clean.

 

[w0odshap3r]

I've been messing around learning how to cut wood with my little Wee portable sawmill and then smoothing it out with my old Scheppach planer/thicknesser.
I've been getting by okay so far.

But now I need to work on some bigger pieces of wood for deep window sills and countertops. My planer definitely isn't wide enough for these! I want to know what everyone else does when they need to smooth surfaces that are bigger than their planer.

I want to do it myself than pay people to do this. Do you guys have any tips or tricks?

I'd go with @KnockKnock's idea.
The most common approach is to use a router sled.
So you build a jig that your router rides on, allowing you to systematically flatten one face of the board.
Once one side is flat, you can either run that flat side against your planer's fence to thickness the board, or keep using the router sled to flatten the other side.
It's a bit of a slower process than a wide planer, but it's very effective and keeps it a DIY job.

 

[IntoTheWoods]

My dad had something like that a while back, his planer just wasn't up to the task for larger slabs, so he ended up making a router sled to get those boards flat. It took him a bit of time, but he saved a ton of money by not having to outsource the work. Plus, finishing up with hand planes gave the wood a really nice look. I'd say it's definitely worth a shot if you're looking to keep things DIY and save some cash

 

[Royal_Page377]

A router sled's been my go to, its cheap and works well if you've got a router. Hand planes can work too if you're up for the effort, then belt sander's good for smoothing after. You joining boards or working full slabs?

Appreciate the tips! If I go with slabs, do I need to flatten both sides or is one good enough for tabletops?

 

[Bob McNair]

Appreciate the tips! If I go with slabs, do I need to flatten both sides or is one good enough for tabletops?

Depends on who's coming for tea!