We have a 25" wide x 1.5" thick butchers block that we need to plane down to about .75" thick.
It won’t fit in the planer due to its width, does anyone have any ideas of how we could go about this?
Thanks!
Josh & Kate
Assuming it is end grain, you wouldn’t want to send it through the planer - it will tear up the wood.
What I would probably do is resaw it on the Laguna to get it close and then send it through the belt sander [when it is finally repaired]. Just remember to take just a little bit off at a time on the drum sander [good write up here: PLEASE READ! Drum sander operation/information]. We do have a hand-held belt sander that you can use instead of the drum sander, just need to make sure your careful to sand it evenly.
The other easy way to do it would be to use the CNC to surface it down to 3/4". The last way would be to use a router sled [not sure if we have a jig, but is fairly easy to make].
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My vote is Multicam.
(When your only tool is a hammer…)
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Band saw followed by drum sander comes to mind.
Use a router sled
This is basically the Multicam but way more work. Endgrain is rough
25” size makes the bandsaw a non-starter, unfortunately.
Multicam or router+sled would be my first choices.
A hand-held power planer would get the job close (perhaps very close if you have a good eye and a steady hand), but you’d still likely want something with rails if the goal is dead flat. A hybrid approach might be faster: use it for the first 1/2” or so and then do finishing passes using one of the other options.
I’m not sure, but I don’t think DMS has a handheld power planer.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/DEWALT-3-25-in-W-5-5-Amp-2-Blade-Handheld-Planer/3278791
cut in half into 2 12.5" boards. resaw to .75" plus a little more for planing.
Plane rough side from bandsaw.
glue back up.
do the same with the thinner resawn piece for matching serving trays or trivets or coasters.
Cry a little for the loss of a 1.5" cutting board.
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Indeed.
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I know, feels like such a waste 
Thank you to everyone who shared advice!! We really appreciate it. Got it done with some very generous help 
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Share with the class!
Which method did you use? Thoughts about it?
Pictures please
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@mdredmond was nice enough to take the time to help us out on the Multicam (thanks Matt!). Luckily it wasn’t endgrain, so there was no tearout. It turned out awesome, and the lines were easily cleaned up with a hand sander. Pictures are of the first coat of oil. Thanks again for all of the input! Definitely nice to save a few pounds in the van.
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And since we didn’t use the dust boot, I was able to rope Josh into sweeping the whole Multicam area, cleaning up the previous user’s mess and leaving the area cleaner than when we started. Josh should really rethink his career - he’d make a great school custodian.
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Haha I’ve been checking the classifieds, but nothing yet 
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