Planers

[Steve Milbocker]

I really admire some of the backed and laminated wood bows that you guys are making. It looks to me like a power planer would be invaluable for building these bows. I see Makita and I'm sure others offer a hand held capable of handling 31/4" boards. Do any of you guys use these?

[adb]

I use a drum thickness sander and a belt sander for making my backing strips, mid lams, and handle lams.

[Del the cat]

I'd say power planers are just too coarse/uncontrollable for bows.
But whatever floats your boat.
I have used a cheapo one on occaision to remove waste from a log prior to seasoning, but that's about it.
Del

[Marc St Louis]

A 6" jointer has proved its worth to me many times, of course it has also taken the tip of one finger off once as well 

[half eye]

Use one on every backed bow I make, they are real timesavers and give very accurate results. I surface the backer and bow stock and do the glue-up......after it's dry I run it through again to set the backer thickness and dress the remaining three sides.
rich

[Steve Milbocker]

Rich, is the planer a bench type or hand held?

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200318135_200318135

[half eye]

Steve,
      The one I use belongs to a friend.....it's a Dewalt but a small bench model and is a true thickness planer. He has also let me use one like you show in the link and they work very well also. Biggest difference is that your hand pressure can make "waves" if ya dont take it easy on speed etc. But as far as making things flat it ought to work great. If the blades are adjustable set it for as thin of a cut as it will allow.
rich