Replies

1. 
   roc | Sep 08, 2009 03:19am | #1

   Easy as can be if the wood is still kind of wet.

   Open mouth plane and plane toward the center all around. Use a scrub plane to start.

   I am sure the turners will tell you to put it on a lathe. Is the way to go if you have access to one.

   Could make a pole lathe. I have an article about a guy who is an itinerate turner. For demonstration he shows up in a town with a few small items, locates everything he needs locally and builds a fire and makes a lathe on the spot and winds up turning bowls that are quite nice with just person power and hand forged lathe chisels he made on the spot.

   The article is in Woodwork magazine Feb 2002 p 24-30

   I have been meaning to get this up here some how and you inspired me to get out my spy camera and finally do it.

   One of my favorite articles.

   roc

   Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln ( 54° shaves )

   
   

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   Edited 9/7/2009 8:21 pm by roc

   
1. 
   asapservices | Sep 08, 2009 03:36am | #3

   I should have been more specific--I was wondering more about a Delta 13" portable planer--not a hand plane. But I'm not opposed to trying the hand plane. I don't own a scrub plane, but I do have a Veritas smoothing plane. Thanks for the help.

1. 
   ring | Sep 08, 2009 08:05am | #5

   Do not feed discs thru that planer, or any other planer.David Ring

   http://www.touchwood.co.il/?lang=e&id=1

1. 
   Shoemaker1 | Sep 08, 2009 11:11pm | #6

   Dave. Now you did it.
   Bet you some one will have that posted on Ytube soon. Just before entering the Darwin Awards:)

1. 
   ring | Sep 09, 2009 07:27am | #11

   Yes, I can see it now...
   This item might appear right after - "Do not push planks through the bandsaw with your thumbs across the saw line".
   David Ring

   http://www.touchwood.co.il/?lang=e&id=1

2. 
   asapservices | Sep 09, 2009 03:09am | #7

   Huh? No I have not run any discs through the planer. I was weighing my options as to the best way to smooth them. Why exactly would you not want to do that--danger to oneself or danger to the planer? Thanks for any input.

1. 
   AlanWS | Sep 09, 2009 03:30am | #8

   If you run anything through the planer that is not long enough to span the distance between the hold-down rollers, the planer can pick it up and throw it hard enough to do you and the planer severe damage. And even if it is long enough, if it is held together with short grain, it's likely to break into pieces small enough to be thrown. Don't try it.A handplane is perfectly safe. But because wood shrinks on drying more tangent to the growth rings than it does across them (radially), your disks will crack unless treated some way to prevent shrinkage by replacing water with some other substance.

2. 
   asapservices | Sep 09, 2009 04:03am | #9

   Thanks--I needed that--I mean, to know WHY. In the end, I probably wouldn't have tried it anyway since the stools are supposed to be basically a primitive style anyway. Thanks for the info very much..........

3. 
   KiddervilleAcres | Sep 09, 2009 04:11am | #10

   I'm not that familiar with msking seats from the wood youhave but do use drawknives for shaping cabriole legs.  There are inshaves (?) and other hand tools that are commonly used to shape wood seats.

   Perhaps that might be another option?  Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will chime in.  Hope this helps.

   Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres

   A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!

4. 
   ring | Sep 09, 2009 07:28am | #12

   I think AlanWS already gave a fine explanation of why it shouldn't be done. BTW, the perfect machine to smooth your cross-section discs would be a stroke sander.David Ring

   http://www.touchwood.co.il/?lang=e&id=1

5. 
   asapservices | Sep 09, 2009 08:41am | #13

   Thanks for all the advice, tips, etc...you won't see me on YouTube or Darwin awards or in the hospital or in the obituaries....I like the idea about the stroke sander. Now, if I can just get my hands on one!

2. 
   roc | Sep 08, 2009 03:34am | #2

   Duh . . . obviously I am not a stool maker. It just sunk in that slices off the log won't work for stools. I think. Seems to me will crack apart. You need aproximately flat sawn planks. I think. I don't make stools just plane end grain on other stuff.

   roc

   Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln ( 54° shaves )

3. 
   KiddervilleAcres | Sep 08, 2009 06:38am | #4

   Are you talking about planing the endgrain?  In other words you have several discs of the trunk portion?

   I've processed burls sliced in half, but I used a drum sander instead of a planer. The problem with using a planer is that to get it to feed the rollers have to put pressure on the wood, not so with a drum sander.  I wouldn't think of trying to hand feed it through a planer, way too dangerous.

   I used 2" thick rigid styrofoam and fashioned a sled with it. I pressed the unruly side of the burl into the styrofoam for an impression and then gouged out enough styrofoam so the burl could sit in it and stay flat. 

   I get as nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs when I think about using a planer to do that. 

   Regards,  

   Bob @ Kidderville Acres

   A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!

   
   

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   Edited 9/7/2009 11:44 pm ET by KiddervilleAcres

4. 
   PrunusSerotina | Sep 11, 2009 02:56am | #14

   The bottom line of this thread is that unless you plan to hand plane the discs with a low angle plane, taking your time, then you should sand them to your desired level of satisfaction.

   If you run them through a power planer, they will most certainly explode apart, possibly harming you, the machine, and the surrounding environment in the process.

   If you don't have a stroke sander, a belt sander or random orbital sander with varying grits, starting very course, will do the trick.

   And, of course, wear a dust mask.

1. 
   asapservices | Sep 11, 2009 05:54am | #15

   Thank you. I had never even remotely considered this task before (planing a cross sectional piece). I've heard enough reasons now NOT to do it--most of it from seemingly much more experienced woodworkers than me. Appreciate the new knowledge....................