Why not?

[Osvaldo Cristo]

I think most of us are familiar with a common jig to plane large planks and workbench's surface using a portable electric router... I constructed and used one several years ago.

Recently I was wondering why do not to use the same idea but not using a router, but an electric hand planer, like my Makita 1900nb? It looked me way more convenient and fast than the "traditional" router jig!

Well, well, well... it looks I am not the only genius with a brilliant idea... Although I never found any reference on that with an "Occidental" Internet search, I found a lot of applications of a such idea from our friends from Russia and other East European countries. Try to search by "рейсмус с электрорубанка" in Youtube and you will get a lot of implementations of "my idea"!

Anyway I let the question to you: why it is not so common? It looks me the most obvious idea to plane a big piece is to use an electric hand planer in an appropriate jig...

As usual, your input is very welcome. Thanks in advance.

[Jim Becker]

I see no reason why this wouldn't work, but I suspect that supporting a router on a gantry is a bit easier than supporting a portable planing tool that has to be held level.

[Bohdan Drozdowskyj]

Once you have a frame to hold the planner it is a much easier and quicker way to level a plank than using a router.

[Bill Graham]

Osvaldo,

I think we haven't heard more about it "over here" because we "modern" woodworkers tend to regard a powered hand plane as a carpenter's tool at best and the equivalent of a meat cleaver for hobbyists at worst. We either never heard of Toshio Odate or have conveniently forgotten that he used a cheap power plane to flatten slabs 40 years ago....

The only drawback I can see is getting more tearout running cross-grain than with a router bit, especially on figured wood. But neither method will get you a finished surface, it's a question of whether the time needed to sand or hand plane to finish is more or less than the time you save using the larger cutter.

I use a Makita 1608B for roughing slabs along with a straightedge and winding sticks, it works pretty well. One of these days I'll get around to replacing it with their KP312 and save some more time.

Thanks for bringing this up, it's good to be reminded that thinking outside the box can be a good thing.

Best,
Bill

[Frederick Skelly]

Hi Osvaldo,
I can't think of any reason your idea won't work, and do it faster than a router. I suspect the router-based approach is more common because many western woodworkers already own a router.

(Just an aside, but for some reason those hand-held planers have always made me nervous. So I've always stayed clear of them.)

Fred

[Jim Becker]

(Just an aside, but for some reason those hand-held planers have always made me nervous. So I've always stayed clear of them.)

I did get to play with the Festool version years ago when Uncle Bob brought a whole bunch of tools to my shop for a demonstration get-together. (I believe there's a thread here somewhere about that "festoolvile" ) It was surprisingly easy to use and not clunky to handle. The skewed knives also left a beautiful surface. But I can absolutely understand that it has some inherent danger not unlike using a stationary jointer.

[Julie Moriarty]

When I was researching building the Offerman version of the router sled, I ran across a video of a guy who used a Makita planer. I own that same planer and I thought about going the planer route but it seemed like it would be more work flattening slabs.

The planer seemed to leave a much better surface than what I experienced running perpendicular with the router. But when I ran parallel with the router I got much better results.

[lowell holmes]

I will stick with my 6" Jet jointer

[Jim Becker]

I will stick with my 6" Jet jointer

It's your opportunity to become a YouTube star and show us how to flatten a slab with one of those bad boys! Holding it up-side down over the workpiece should be interesting!

[Mike Cutler]

I definitely like this concept. I'll be giving one a whirl. The DeWalt handheld planer I have can destroy a piece of material in a heartbeat if you're not paying attention.
I think the examples in the video are just that, examples.That board, and some of the others in subsequent videos, are small enough that a planer sled would have been more beneficial. Maybe they didn't have planers?
On large slabs though I can definitely see an application, especially a live edge piece, where a person would not want to be limited by either the width of their jointer, or planer.

As an aside, did anyone else realize that you weren't having any trouble following what was going on? Even though they were speaking in another language. The body/ facial gestures, and hand motions, made it a universal language for a wood worker.
Just a thought I had.

[Art Mann]

The only down side I can imagine is if you are flattening highly figured wood. I can imagine an electric hand planer would cause much more chip out than a router.

[Osvaldo Cristo]

[...]
On large slabs though I can definitely see an application, especially a live edge piece, where a person would not want to be limited by either the width of their jointer, or planer.

Definitively!

Apparently each search returns slightly different results... my own search returned a couple of bigger jigs.

As an aside, did anyone else realize that you weren't having any trouble following what was going on? Even though they were speaking in another language. The body/ facial gestures, and hand motions, made it a universal language for a wood worker.
Just a thought I had.