Why wouldn't I want a bench planer?
We are still in the hunt for a way to trim off 1/8 inch from 1 X 4 pine for our door trim. (there needs to be 1/8th trimmed off for the necessary reveal to match the other door/window trim in the house).
We first went to a lumber place in the Western Burbs that wanted 2.33 lf/ for poplar, planed, and routed as we wanted. We are just going to paint the trim, and the rest of the house has pine, so we thought it would be somewhat silly to pay a premium for poplar.
For the door molding in the bedroom, Glenn was able to get it done someway (he'd need to explain the particulars) but his verdict was that that wasn't the best way.
So, today, I decide to call around to some other wood places to see if we could bring in pine ($.80 lf at Home Depot) and pay them to plane it.
I call the first woodworker, and I explain that I don't want to buy a bench planer (around $300). His response? Well, why not? Bench planers are great!
Me: I'm just a homeowner, we need to do our trim, and that's it.
I'm sure bench planers are great if you did a bunch of woodworking. Maybe down the line, Glenn would do wood working if there weren't so many other "projects" out there.
In any case, I may have not articulated the problem very well (Glenn is the woodworker in the family) so perhaps a visit with a sample would be in order.
Really, how many tools does a simple homeowner need?
Labels: bench planer, molding
posted by Christina at 3:11 PM
2 Comments:
A bench planer is a great tool to have. Esp with an older house, you always need a odd thickness, such as a real 1" thick board or to make the appropriate spacer. Or making rosettes instead of buying them. ( see http://710.hornberger.ws/2006/09/how-to-make-rosette-in-my-last-post-i.html)
Check out craigslist for one. Once you have one, you'll wish you had one from the begining.
I'm sure you can find a local woodworker that will do this for free. It's not like it takes a lot of setup time to do that.
-brent http://710.hornberger.ws
I've got a Dewalt bench planer but I'd put it pretty far down the list in terms of important household tools. I hardly ever use mine except on a woodworking project, where you need a lot more tools than just a planer to be effective.
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