George Ellis's Planing Board *LINK*

Re: George Ellis's Planing Board

Jack Ervin

>In George's book he first describes this as simply a single plank flantened on the front side and made to lay lay flat then by flatning the top, a regestry surface will be established. Screws or nails across one end act as a stop. The down side of this and as stated by George is that it goes out of wind. This may be a cheaper way for you to try and determine if you woule want build the panel form depending on the size of the work you plan on doing.

Jack

Re: George Ellis's Planing Board

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>I read that article, even downloaded the plans, but ultimately I couldn't figure out why it wouldn't be easier to flatten the bench. Perhaps a bench insert to accommodate your tool tray would be a good thing? The guys at Homestead Heritage have these to bridge from front to back, inserts even have dog holes for planing stops, they're precisely as thick as needed to make a flat top.

Pam

Re: George Ellis's Planing Board

Paul Kierstead

>Since my bench is moved about some and the floor isn't particularly even, it won't necessarily remain flat. In addition, it is a lot of area to flatten. And lastly, it isn't as rigid as one might like in any case (though admittedly not bad). The board would make life pretty easy if it works as advertised; I would love to hear from someone who has put in a lot of hours using it.

I have to say though, the bridge sounds like an interesting idea, especially for larger panels.

Re: George Ellis's Planing Board

Warren in Lancaster, PA

>It doen't look like too many people use planing boards nowadays. I used one for a year and a half before I had a shop. A friend let me use an old bench in his barn. The bench had a built in stop with teeth, made for planing, but the surface was pretty bad. My planing board was a plank with a stop at the end and I shoved it up against the stop in the bench. I used it especially for thinner stuff which needed support.

I wouldn't recommend a planing board unless you like to plane against a stop with the board loose on the bench. The planing board need not be as wide as the stuff you are planing, because you need to position the board so you are planing in line with the stop anyway. A 7 inch wide planing board could be used for a 12 inch board.

The board shown in your link might be pretty stable, but one thing I liked about the board I used was that it was easy and fast to adjust the surface to where I wanted it. The boards in a frame seem as if they would be difficult to flatten. I would be tempted to make a planing board again if I were planing a lot of delicate stuff like inlay strips or hand made veneer or very thin drawer parts. The great advantage is that you can correct the surface so easily.

Re: George Ellis's Planing Board

Paul Kierstead

>I wouldn't recommend a planing board unless you like to plane against a stop with the board loose on the bench.

Interesting point. I do all my face planing loose and a good bit of the edge planing. I tried it dogged tight, but always was farting around and worrying about bowing the board so I stopped. I thought most people planed loose?

If I'm reading Chris' article correctly,

Wiley Horne

>it seems to be saying that you can plane against end stops with the board otherwise loose. Or, you can drive wedges between the slats at various points and hem the board (or panel) in so that you can plane in different directions without turning the work around. If this is correct, it seems to be a big advantage of Ellis'design--by using wedges, the board is as good as dogged, yet it's not in compression. It's just hemmed in.

Wiley