# Planing Service, as in 'Renting the Use of an Industrial Planer'



## lothian (Mar 16, 2012)

Every so often I come across a woodworking video on YouTube where the fellow casually hauls his project offsite to some commercial woodshop whereupon he makes use of their industrial thickness planer. I find it remarkable that such services exist. And now I need that service.

I'm in the design stage of making a thing from reclaimed wood. The thing will be 24" x 48" and it'll need surface planing. Problem is, I don't own a thickness planer wide enough. I need the services of some industrial woodshop with a big honkin' thickness planer.

I'm in the Raleigh area. How does one find this sort of service?

"Hi. Can I rent an hour of time on your 30" thickness planer?"


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## Nubsnstubs (Aug 30, 2013)

Go to a wood supplier and look for business cards displayed on a board somewhere, or get up the nerve to ask one of the salesmen/women if they might know of any shops that provide sanding/planing services. Here in Tucson, it's $66 per hour, with 30 minute minimum…........ Jerry (in Tucson)


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## Cydni (Dec 7, 2011)

raleighreclaimed.com
2101 Harrod St, Raleigh, NC 27604
(919) 703-7000


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## McLovin (May 20, 2021)

I'm in the need of an industrial size plainer as well. Doing a project for my daughter and don't have 25 1/2" wide plainer. Anyone in the Northern VA area willing to rent some time to plain and square up two 35" X 25 1/2" X 1 1/4" boards?


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## metolius (May 26, 2016)

Some local woodworking guilds may have a shop with larger equipment and shop time you can can reserve. Worth a look to join if there's such a group near by.

Raleigh Reclaimed looks promising.


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## MadMark (Jun 3, 2014)

Any lumberyard that planes rough to S2S should be willing to run a job for you. Don't expect to handle the equipment yourself.

My suppliers have always been willing to plane, joint, edge, mill or sand - for a price.


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## controlfreak (Jun 29, 2019)

I have a woodworkers guild 35 minutes away that I plan on joining for this very reason. The only reasons I haven't are Covid and it may be a possible Fathers Day gift. It is only $200 initiation fee and $150 a year. Back to the OP question they have a 25" Oliver Planer, is that the kind of size you are looking for? If so you may want to see if there is anything like that near you.


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## metolius (May 26, 2016)

> I have a woodworkers guild 35 minutes away that I plan on joining for this very reason. The only reasons I haven t are Covid and it may be a possible Fathers Day gift. It is only $200 initiation fee and $150 a year. Back to the OP question they have a 25" Oliver Planer, is that the kind of size you are looking for? If so you may want to see if there is anything like that near you.
> 
> - controlfreak


That's a great value. My guild has very low annual dues, but industrial power tool time is rented by the hour.


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## controlfreak (Jun 29, 2019)

After reading some of the guild pages on upgrades they have replaced the Oliver with a Grizzly but didn't say if it was the same size or bigger.


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## pintodeluxe (Sep 12, 2010)

I have done it. I just took a bunch of wide panels or tabletops and had them surfaced on a 50" combination machine. It planes, and drum sands two different grits with each pass!

My truckload of panels took them about 15 minutes.

Well worth the cost.


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## controlfreak (Jun 29, 2019)

I wonder if the description of the wood being reclaimed will scare off anybody that has one of these big machines. Those blades can't be cheap.


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## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

I don't know where you are in NOVA but you might call the guys at the Fredericksburg Workshop if you're close to there and see if they have the equipment to do what you need.

Another option might be a custom molding shop if you have one nearby. For me, that's the only local place that rents shop time.


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## HokieKen (Apr 14, 2015)

> After reading some of the guild pages on upgrades they have replaced the Oliver with a Grizzly but didn t say if it was the same size or bigger.
> 
> - controlfreak


Yeesh. I wouldn't call that an "upgrade" :-/



> I wonder if the description of the wood being reclaimed will scare off anybody that has one of these big machines. Those blades can t be cheap.
> 
> - controlfreak


Yep. My local shop won't do anything that's not KD and graded.


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