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Okay, I'm about to start the back. I intend to use a DeWalt DW 733 planer for thicknessing the sides. The video says to plane to 2mm.

I will build a shooting board, as suggested by Cumpiano, to get the edges trimmed.

I guess I'm just thinking this through. Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Rodney

im not saying it cant be done. in fact, ive done it. but i would not suggest planing any of the guitar plates with a planer. ive sent quarter sawn red oak through to a thickness of about 2mm, but ive also exploded walnut at that thickness. not worth the risk in my book. do it by hand, with a drum or wide belt sander, with a safety planer, take it to a cabinet shop and have them do it, etc. just dont explode your tonewood in a planer.

the shooting board is a great way to get the back ready to join though.

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sweat the small stuff.

I strongly second Heath's opinion. When wood gets that thin it can be very dangerous in the planer. I have blown up things myself thicker than 2mm for other types of woodworkning. Generally speaking the quartesawn nature of tonewood along with a lack of runout improves the odds buh I would use a scraper and sanding blocks to thickness before taking a chance in the power planer if those were my only choices.

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Very true, Rodney. You'll stay lucky a lot of the time. But then that time will come when you make mulch for your flower bed. Or, even more frustrating, your otherwise perfect back half will come out of the planer missing a few divots the size of your thumbnail. You don't want that to happen. Use slower, gentler means to thin your plates to the ultimate thickness. A thickness sander is probably the quickest and safest way to do it--even if you have to pay someone to do it for you. If that can't be arranged, you can still get where you want to go with hand tools.

Wow, I'm surprised. I thought it would work well. Are you saying the Wagner Safe T Planer is safer? I actually don't mind using a hand plane but I've never used one before.

Let me ask this. The video has the back planed before assembling and cutting. The Cumpiano book assembles, then cuts, then planes. Which do you do?

Rodney

My opinion is that it is better to glue the back together when the pieces are thicker. This gives the glue joint the best chance. Then thickness the back. I have a wide belt sander which is helpful but it still leaves a bit of hand work to clean everything up.

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glue them up thicker than your target finished thickness. Sometimes they don't glue up exactly flush, no matter how hard you try. I always allow at least .050-.060" and then take the joined plates down to their final thickness.

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Brad Tucker