Infeed/Outfeed tables for Belsaw Planer

[Jeff Franklin]

I have my grandfather's old Belsaw 12" planer. I've been cleaning it up and tuning it. One thing that is missing are both the infeed and outfeed tables. I want to build my own in the form of torsion boxes. I think I can do that fairly easily with some hardwood for sides, plywood cross members and allthread attachment bolts that pass through the box and into the face of the main table.

The part I'm unsure of is the top surface. My plan is to just use baltic birch ply for the top and bottom panels. I figure a wax based finish would be best for something like this. Anyone recommend a better choice for the top of the tables?

[Matt Day]

I'd apply laminate to the top or use melamine instead of BB for the top.

[Malcolm McLeod]

My father had same for 40+ yrs. He built a waxed maple bed that passed thru the planer and sat on both infeed/outfeed tables. It reduced the cut depth by its thickness (3/4"), but reduced snipe, stiffened tables, and made the feed smoother. I would think you can do the same, except substitute your torsion boxes. Just bolt them on exactly like the tables.

The loss of depth was never an issue. As I recall it was ~6"max, and even at reduced depth was more than he or I ever needed.

[Don Jarvie]

If you got the tables you would need to use a piece of wood for the infeed table since it's not cast solid. The outfeed table is all steel. I used a piece of MDF on mine with some wax on it.

You could try to pick up replacements over on OWWM if you want.

[Jeff Franklin]

Thank you all for the ideas. The laminate would be the quickest and easiest for me right now. I'll consider the full pass through - that's a good solution to some of the typical problems this machine has.

Thanks again.