Planer / Thicknesser

[pcolbeck]

Anyone have experience of cheap planer / thicknessers like the £150 Titan one that Screwfix do?

I want to build a new workbench for my garage with draws etc plus one on casters for my drill and grinders. Then we are also reorganising the garden and there will be a load of stuff for that (cold frames, planters and the like). I would really like to be able to use recycled wood but my hand plane skills are not up to snuff and anyway planing down loads of boards would take far to long.
I already have a large and a small circular saw and a sliding compound mitre saw.
What I am not sure about as if it's worth getting a cheap planer / thicknesser or just to get a better second hand bench top thicknesser? I'm not doing fine cabinet making I just need to get second hand wood (including pallets) into a fit state to use.

[T42]

Yeah, I've thought about that too. The Titan looks very like the Scheppach one. From videos I've seen the fence supports are a bit flimsy, but otherwise it seems to do a job.

The other thing you can do is make yourself a router sled and use that.  I did that with aluminium angle & ball-bearings. It's OK for small jobs and you can put it away in a corner when you don't need it.

[pcolbeck]

Looks like all the cheap ones are knocked out in the same factory in China with very slight differences.
I have two routers (a big one and a really small one) so a sleds an option I suppose.

[Moleman76]

Do inspect your reclaimed wood for nails, staples, etc. before sending them through the machine

[pcolbeck]

Do inspect your reclaimed wood for nails, staples, etc. before sending them through the machine

The big estate in the next village has a sawmill and they used to do tours for school kids. I went with my son when he was little. One of the things that they were checking for in the logs as they sawed them into planks was musket balls from the civil war as they blunted the massive circular saw. That's metal embedded in the wood nearly 400 years ago but illustrates how long it takes a big tree to grow.

[Valiant]

The titan will do the nicely. It's not as sturdy as the proper ones but there's a reason they're a lot more expensive.

[Aunt Maud]

I'm a big fan of hand planing.

A scrub plane and a jointer do it for me.

[Jurek]

I'm a big fan of hand planing.

A scrub plane and a jointer do it for me.

Old Skool

[bobb]

There are quite a few reviews of the Titan on YouTube. Some are actually fairly positive given its cheapness.

I have Triton thicknesser that I've successfully built a sled for to get non-flat stuff flat as I don't have a planer. Plenty of vids on that too. In fact, for anything too wide for the planer, that's pretty much your only choice (other than old skool or router sled).

I've done the router sled thing too, but it ain't half tiresome on anything of any size...