Like most others, my woodworking shop is incomplete.  I still need a band saw, large planing drum sander to deal with figured wood, biscuit joiner, lathe, and a host of other tools.

In particular, the lack of a way to flatten the curly maple was starting to be a problem.  I gave a friend’s standard planer a shot and there was too much tear-out.   Drum sanders for planing start at $575 or so and go up quickly.  Not wanting to spend that much, I racked my little brain for ways to flatten the wood without one. 

The table saw is one option, with a tall fence, but that option is a bit frightening.  Every time I’ve tried this, with other wood, I’ve had issues aligning the cuts after flipping the piece (assumes you can’t make the cut in one pass).

Luckily, a router can do anything.  After months of looking on craigslist for a suitable drum sander that wouldn’t tear out chunks of the finicky curly maple, I came across an ingenious solution, well documented on the Internet.  I’m surprised I didn’t think of this sooner.  Behold, the router planing jig:

The tall supports are to make absolutely sure that there is no perceptible flex.  To verify that the horizontal rails for the router were flat, after the glue dried, I passed first the bottoms through the table saw, with the top of each rail against the fence, then I clamped the bottoms together, in opposing directions.  I then fed the top part of the rails, which the router rests against, through the table saw.  As you can see from the way the plies were exposed, I did not have a flat surface to begin with.

There is a small lip on the bottom inside parts of the rails that the router support slides on. 

Now for some math. 

Drum sander          $575.00

- Jig                    25.00  (15 dollars of this was the threaded rod)

-Planing Router Bit   ~30.00 (Magnate 2703 Bottom Clearing Router Bit)

                                          _______

Money Saved               $520.00

OK, so my math assumes you have a router, but they are pretty common and cheap.  

Edit: Although, I highly recommended the Magnate router bit, I have gone back to using a large straight bit because after 2 uses, the Magnate bit was dulled enough to produce tear-out and too much heat, regardless of speed, burning one of the peices.  The first two times I used the Magnate bit, it left a really nice surface and I had no tear-out issues.  with the straight bit, you’ll have to sand a bit more afterwards.

I’ll start planing the 1/2″ pieces tomorrow.  I would prefer to use them because I like the figure, but I’m worried that they are going to end up too thin, so I have some 1″ pieces on standby that I can plane down to 1/2″. 

Next up, I have some mottled makore veneer on order, which will cover the top, bottom and sides of the cabinets.