Hey yall we talked about ways to flatten end grain in a different thread, and how it is a really bad idea to use the planer. The main methods that came up were:
CNC (class needed)
Drum Sander (for less material removal)
Plunge Router + Router Sled
I used the router sled located on top of the sheet storage tonight with a CNC Spoilerboard Surfacing bit and had great success. My board had walnut/cherry end grain strips with about 1/8 inch height difference and had no tear out. The bit I used was suggested by Adam Gordon and can be bought from amazon here. Although $30, it worked really well.
The router sled is not build to fit the plunge router exactly but it still works well if you run it along an edge. I also used a little bit of the planer wax on it to help the router slide easily. In the future we could build another router sled that fits the router exactly, and possible one thats a little smaller for little projects.
Just wanted to give an update because some people were asking if we had a sled already and if it worked. It took a lot of time but was super easy and definitely faster than the drum sander for the amount of material.
IIRC the discussion here was about something like a cutting board made of endgrain cutoffs, so not quite the shooting board situation, but there is now a shooting board in the shop for those who have their own planes :]
Thanks for the post! Is the 1/4" shank the only one that can be used or will the router accept 1/2" shank? Do you happen to know how wide/long/thick a piece the sled can handle? I have a 24x36x1.75" piece that I need to flatten.
The sled was maybe 4 feet long? Its a little over the width of one of the workshop tables. Yeah i think we have adaptors for 1/2 inch and 1/4 inch shanks
Yep, the sled is at least 4’ long. There is a new DeWalt corded router that accepts 1/2 and 1/4 bits. Both collets are on the shelf. You will need to set up rails alongside your work piece. Sled material is 3/4" thick. Router plunge is a couple of inches travel. I clamped together some 3/4 material into a box and moved the sled across the top of that, without guides. It just depends on what you’re doing and how accurate you want to be. Take nice shallow cuts.
