I have a 12' long 30" wide 3" thick southern yellow pine bench to I would like to take about 1/8" off of. Any leads on something that large in the area?
No leads to help, but I'm trying to imagine how much that top weighs!
I wish you the the best in locating a suitable planer or drum/belt sander. If you get no leads there is always the option of leveling and thicknessing with a router and sled, though it will take some time for a top that large.
Not sure if you are looking to buy or a favor but Garland Woodcraft in Durham can sand that for you. They have a 36" wide sander. I have taken several projects to them. Good people to work with.
Bob
You really need to take that to a local millwork company and have them send it through a planer for 1/8". A sander works in thousandths--it would take a long time to sand 1/8th off. Plane first then sand to take planer marks out. Just my reco.
I have a 12' long 30" wide 3" thick southern yellow pine bench to I would like to take about 1/8" off of. Any leads on something that large in the area?
Tom, I'm good for 25" through my Oliver jointer/planer, 72" through the sawmill planer, and 37" through the wide belt sander. The only problem with the sawmill planer is that it is very slow (and thus costly).
We can set up some 24 grit in the WBS and hog it down, but the problem with SYP in the sander is that the sap clogs the belts really badly and we have to charge for cleaning the belt.
As Jerry and others recommended, a planer would be best.
Bill Keck at Raleigh Reclaimed has a wide planer and should be able to plane that for you. His number is 919.703.7000. He is in NW Raleigh
Mark Kegler also has a wide planer in downtown Raleigh and can plane it. Mark can be reached at 919.608.7220
What's it being used for? If it was a workshop bench I'd just go after it with a belt sander and coarse to finer grit belts followed by a ROS. SYP will sand very easily. If it's for something finer then I'd go for the shop planer.