How to Plane Large Boards With a Router Gantry

You don’t need industrial-sized machinery to plane large pieces of wood. A full-size router with a 1/2-in. collet, a large-diameter bit and a simple jig will do the trick. The process will take a little longer than it would with a big machine, but the results will be just as good.

Figure A: Platform

Figure B: Gantry

Bit for Planing

You’ll need a large-diameter router bit to speed the process along. If you own a wood router and a collection of bits, you might already have what you need. The bit doesn’t need to be purpose-made for planing. It just needs to cut a flat surface. I used the bit shown at left that came with a door-making kit.