ditto (or is it just me that's nuts?)

[rudy de haas]

I am not a woodworker, but am close enough to having OCD to feel the attraction - so here's your Sunday morning schadenfreud moment: Windsor Plywood here in sunny lethbridge brought in some Santos Mahogany for my bathroom and then let me pick through the pile to choose the bits I wanted. One of the pieces is 15.25" wide, 109" long, 15/16th more or less S2S; solid and nicely figured - and I want it, want it, want it except that my planer is 13" , I have no sensible use for the thing, and at $16.50 per board foot it's not cheap. But I want it... Whaaaa

[Matt Day]

Sounds like a good reason to buy a new planer!

Or have a friend or shop do it for you.

[glenn bradley]

Unless you know you are going to make something that takes a section of the board at full width, the problem doesn't exist. Once you break that board down into oversized parts your planer will probably be fine. Now, your jointer . . . .


. . . . planer sled.

[Mike Heidrick]

Split it in half when you need it and glue it back together.

[Moses Yoder]

I would cut it to 12" wide and use that. It grows on trees.

[Allan Speers]

If the board is THAT nice, then go for it. The slope is calling ....

But you won't need a new planer. If you get heavily into woodworking, (as a hobby) then you would do well to also get a few hand planes & a sharpening system, plus a decent (heavy) bench to work on. Once you have all that, you can quite easily flatten the occasional 15" plank, assuming you need that full width.

Heck, you could even do without the 13" planer, but that's a big leap, and only for a brave few. Personally, I combine big machines and hand tools. I MUCH prefer to use the hand tools, when I have the time. The machines (except for my bandsaw) exist for when I'm in a hurry, or tired.

[Peter Quinn]

If the board is THAT nice, then go for it. The slope is calling ....

But you won't need a new planer. If you get heavily into woodworking, (as a hobby) then you would do well to also get a few hand planes & a sharpening system, plus a decent (heavy) bench to work on. Once you have all that, you can quite easily flatten the occasional 15" plank, assuming you need that full width.

Heck, you could even do without the 13" planer, but that's a big leap, and only for a brave few. Personally, I combine big machines and hand tools. I MUCH prefer to use the hand tools, when I have the time. The machines (except for my bandsaw) exist for when I'm in a hurry, or tired.

I would like to watch somebody use a hand plane to level a piece of santos mahogany flat over that distance. If you are not a very big muscular person when you start you will be before the end. Santos is hard. Not a little hard, very very hard, and not so easy on hand tools. Get the board, develop a relationship with a good millworks operation quick, or get a bigger planer, or make the board smaller, or save it for a rainy day. By all means get the hand planes, but don't waste much time learning that Santos is not the ideal species to work with them. Oh, and the smell is quite special too. PS...don't eat the shavings, or breath them too much either. And give glue ups plenty of cure time in clamps, its not one of the friendliest glue ups IME.

[Peter Quinn]

A few things of note from the wood data base concerning Santos Mahogany

Color/Appearance: There is a fair degree of color variation between boards of Santos Mahogany, ranging from a lighter golden brown to a darker purplish red or burgundy. The color tends to turn more red/purple with age. Quartersawn sections can show a striped or ribbon pattern.

Grain/Texture: Grain is usually interlocked, with a medium to fine texture. Good natural luster.

Endgrain: Diffuse-porous; medium pores in no specific arrangement; commonly in radial multiples of 2-3; reddish brown heartwood deposits common; growth rings usually indistinct, sometimes distinct due to discontinuous bands of marginal parenchyma; rays not visible without lens; parenchyma vasicentric and confluent.

Rot Resistance: Rated as very durable in regards to decay resistance, with mixed reports on susceptibility to insect attack.

Workability: Santos Mahogany has a noticeable blunting effect on cutting edges. Working characteristics are rated as fair to poor, on account of both its density and its interlocked grain. Staining or gluing can sometimes be problematic, though the wood finishes well.

Odor: Santos Mahogany has a very distinctive spicy scent when being worked. Trees from the Myroxylon genus are used to make Balsam of Peru, an ingredient used in perfumes.

Allergies/Toxicity: Although severe reactions are quite uncommon, Santos Mahogany has been reported to cause skin and respiratory irritation. See the articles Wood Allergies and Toxicity and Wood Dust Safety for more information.

Highlights: Interlocked grain, severe blunting effect on cutting tools, distinct spicy perfume when worked that is know to cause respiratory problems (seen that one first hand), gluing is problematic. No, not the board you want to saw in half and reglue (because its likely to spring like heck fight you all the way), and definitely not the place to start practicing hand tools. Great floor or counter top in your bath room though!

I can remember one day in the flooring department of the millwork shop I was at for years they were running Santos in one room and Cumaru in the other. Cumaru has a distinct smell like horse manure when milled, santos wreaks like strong perfume. One of the younger helpers was walking from room to room cleaning up and commented "Man, one room smells like a French whore and the other room smells like a french horse...." Hysterical and accurate! Enjoy that stuff!

[Mike Cutler]

Rudy

There are three machines that can never be big enough. Jointer, Planer, and Bandsaw.

You need a bigger planer and jointer.

[Andrew Joiner]

, 15/16th more or less S2S;

If it's S2S why is your planer an issue?

[Mike Goetzke]

You might check - many of these hardwood suppliers will mill lumber to your specifications.


Mike

[Michael Stein]

I guess I am just confused by the whole thread... You start with "I am NOT a woodworker," but then go on to talk about buying wood and owning a planer.

[John Lanciani]

My vote is to buy it. I buy most any wide board that I see that appeals to me, whether I need it or not. High quality wide stock is getting harder to find and more expensive every year. If nothing else, I figure that it is a safer investment than the stock market.

[Peter Quinn]

I guess I am just confused by the whole thread... You start with "I am NOT a woodworker," but then go on to talk about buying wood and owning a planer.

I am not an electrician, but I have wired small panels, machines, many lights, set conduit, pulled wires, I have all the tools to work with romex and BX. I am a wood worker. It's one of the popular misconceptions in the industry that just because you own certain tools you are a wood worker. Keeps wages low, even though professionally expectations are still very high. I found Rudy's perspective intriguing and refreshing. Owning a planer or wood does not make one a wood worker. Of course I know few people that wire panels recreationally, but I know lots of fine wood workers who are strictly for fun, not vocation, so there is a lot of grey area.

[Al Launier]

You might check - many of these hardwood suppliers will mill lumber to your specifications.


Mike

+1 My recommendation as well.