Mtakata Power Tools

If you would like to try your hand at building log furniture, you are going to need a good electric planer for some of your projects. Although it is conceivably possible to use a manual hand wood planer for your log furniture building tasks, there's really no reason why you should put yourself to that much trouble. Just because log furniture looks rustic, it doesn't mean that you have to use old-fashioned methods to build it. An electric planer will help you build your log furniture in an efficient and successful manner.

Although by its very nature log furniture looks very natural, there is still quite a bit of work you have to do with the wood when you are making the furniture. Depending on what type of furniture piece you are building, some of the wood pieces will have to be planed for design as well as furniture effectiveness and durability.

If you are just starting out building log furniture, you'll want to start out small, with easier pieces. Small chairs, tables, or even small beds are good pieces to start with so you can get the feel of how different it is to build log furniture. With the design of most log furniture in mind, it is best to get an electric hand planer, as you won't need to be running straight boards through a large planer. Standard straight lumber yard-cut boards aren't used in log furniture building, or if they ever are, it is rare. An electric hand planer should be all that you need for any tasks that require a planer while you are building your log furniture.

On some of their pieces, some people like to keep the bark on the logs when they build their log furniture. This can pose a lot of problems, though, so the majority of log furniture builders prefer to remove the bark. A good electric planer can work well for this task, as long as it is a hand planer. With the bark peeled off of the logs, the wood is easier to work with, and there will be less possible snags or warping later on. Removing bark with an electric hand planer is much trickier, however, than planing a simple straight board. If you are not used to using an electric hand planer, than you may want to practice on some straight boards first so you can get used to the feel of your particular planer in your hands. Once you are comfortable using the planer, then you can start - slowly - removing some bark from small logs. It may take some trial and error before you learn how to do this successfully, so if you have any "cast off" logs that aren't that important to you, practice on those first. After you've successfully used your electric hand planer to remove bark from some logs, then you can go on to sanding the bare logs to the desired consistency.

A small electric hand planer can also be used for log ends that need to be tapered, although many times the planer may be too cumbersome for the task. This really all depends on the size of the log you are working with. If the log is small, it would probably be better to use another type of tool, possibly one that is manual and not electric.