Charlie Kocourek

Flattening Large Wood Slabs with a Router

Charlie Kocourek
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Duration:   6:20   mins

Slabs of wood make excellent tables; the challenge lies in flatting them on the surface. In most cases, cool slabs will be too large for a planer or sander to handle; end grain slabs, on the other hand, will not be suitable for a planer. Fortunately, there is an easy way to flatten any oversized board using a shop-made jig and a router, and I’ll show you how.

For step-by-step instructions, check out our blog post: Flattening Large Wood Slabs with a Shop-made Jig and a Router

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17 Responses to “Flattening Large Wood Slabs with a Router”

  1. David Colella

    Such a simple cheap alternative to expensive commercially made sleds. Well done.

    Reply
  2. Carlos Alvarado

    That was a very good way of doing the flatting of a round of wood. My problem with that is that I do not use power tools only hand tools. How would you all suggest that I do the flatting using say a hand plane would you suggest that I go in a circle so as not to gouge the wood. I understand that you are most power tool advocates and only use hand tools on occasions, well I am the other way around and only use power tools occasionally. So, how would you suggest I tackle the problem.

    Reply
    • Customer Service

      Hello Carlos,

      You could do this with hand planes. Use winding sticks to be sure that you are keeping things flat. Start with a #4, going 45 degrees to the grain. Then switch to a #5, going 45 degrees in the other direction so that you can see where you’ve been. Then, finish with a #6, going with the grain.

      Paul, Woodworkers Guild of America

      Reply
  3. Bob

    How is the “gap” between the level and the work surface reduced by shimming the bottom of the workpiece?

    Reply
    • Customer Service

      Hello Bob,

      The shim on the bottom serves to stabilize the work piece so that you are working on a constant plane as you flatten. Once the work piece is stabilized, the router is used to flatten.

      Paul, Woodworkers Guild of America

      Reply
  4. Martin Schwartz

    I would use a chain saw to level the piece and then sand it smooth. I would use an Festool MFT table to secure the piece to the table and not require the elaborate plywood jig to secure to the table, which seems far too nice to mess up. All in all, I suspect doing it my way would save a lot of time and plywood.

    Reply
  5. GARY

    This is the best info on a router sled i have seen so far. The router bit and speed info was excellent.

    Reply
  6. Jerame

    Great idea. I wonder if a small window (cut out a square and cover with plexiglass) on each side of the router would give you a better view of that has been cut and what remains?? I also see this being useful on more than a cookie. What about a rough-cut mantel piece from a log?

    Reply
    • Customer Service

      Yes a window might help but you can develop a good feel for where you are at when using this setup even without having that level of visibility.
      This technique can be used for slabs of all sizes and is an effective way to flatten unruly stock for any number of different projects.
      Paul-WWGOA

      Reply
  7. Hossein

    I was really interested to watch how the operation can be carried on, but video could not opened.

    Reply
    • Customer Service

      Hi Hossein. The images from this video have now been fixed. We are sorry for any inconvenience. If you are still having problems please give our customer service team a call at 1-855-253-0822.
      Thanks
      Jean-WWGOA Video Membership

      Reply
  8. Arty

    This has made life a lot easier and saved so much time any recommendations on a strong brand of router bits cause I’m going through them due to the timber being so dense and hard

    Reply
  9. Mick Brice

    Excellent. Just what I needed to square off the ends of pieces of telegraph pole. They are too heavy for the lathe and too tall-awkward for the thicknesser.

    Reply
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