Cutting lams on a planer

[skye5317]

I don't have access to a sander to make my lams but I can use a planer.  Would a planer be able to cut the lams done to the thicknesses i need without damaging them and leave a good enough surface for glue up?  Or am I best off building one like I have seen others do?
Thanks in advance

[kennym]

I'm gonna say the planer won't leave a good enough glue surface(too smooth) even if you can get them thin enough.

Don't have a thickness planer here so can't say for sure...

[Flem]

I've got a 15" planer. I can't imagine getting a precision, thin tapered lam out of it. It's a beast and would chew them to bits. I think it would depend on your planers feed mechanism. Mine has Big teeth and takes a big bite. One of those job site units might work, if the blades were sharp and it had smooth feed rollers.
I seem to recall somebody here does what you are thinking about.

[kennym]

I think it was JamesV that made em with a planer.  One of the new Griz with the spiral carbide insert cutter drum might not tear em up but you would have to rough the lams up to get a good bond..

[wood carver 2]

Kenny beat me to it. Your best bet would be a thickness planer with a spiral cutter head. Be prepared to have a couple of lams blow up, though.
It would be dangerous to try this on a jointer.
Dave.

[skye5317]

Thanks for the replies.  I kinda figured it wouldn't work the way I hoped.  Oh well.  Looks like I will either by lams or build a sander. 

[Flem]

Drum sander is fairly easy and inexpensive to build. There are a few of us here who have built one.

[skye5317]

I have seen several home built ones and most seemed pretty easy to build.  I was just hoping to use what was already available.

[Flem]

What brand/model planer do you own?

[Flem]

Here is another option, if you have lots of time and patience. It's a shooting board/sled I made for truing up lams. If you mic homemade or store bought lams, you will probably find they are slightly inconsistent in taper rate. Not a big deal unless you are OCD like me.
It's a simple MDF box with angled runners along the side that correspond to the taper rate. I use it with a sanding block or low angle plane that rides on the runners. The bed is 3/4 MDF with sandpaper glued on. The thickness gets adjusted by shimming under the bed. I use it after I have ground my tapered lams, but you could use it with parallel strips to get your taper. It's not fast, but it's dead on accurate.

[Forwardhandle]

You could try it exspermentle if it was me I would carpet tape the lams to the sled and feed it at skew & the slowest feed speed I have done that with thin trim peaces and it worked well never tried it with lams but sounds possible , also hade to use acetone to clean the tape glue off the peaces , the thinner peaces didn't want stay put with out the tape !

[Bowjunkie]

Save some money and buy a thickness sander. If you cant pay full price, you can find good used ones on Craigslist and auctions and such for less than half price. One of the best investments in shop tools I've made. I use it a lot... and for a lot more than grinding glassbow lams.

[Bowjunkie]

Just checked, there's two of them on my local Craigslist now, each for about half of what I paid for mine.

[skye5317]

Thanks for the replies. 

Flem I am not sure what kind of planer it is.   It is at my grandfather's house.  He used to do a lot of wood working before he passed. 

I am going to keep an eye out for a sander or just make one. 

[LESKEN2011]

Kenny is right. I went to JamesV's shop and he used a thickness planer on all his bows. I went and got a HF thickness planer and made several bows myself using his method. You need sharp blades and several passes and it works great.