Noise and neighbours

Sparks

So right now, pretty much everything I do is done with hand tools. I have a few things that plug into the wall (and the cordless drill/driver everyone has), but they're rarely used (a grinder that's used to rehab sharp edges if they're badly damaged, a mitre saw that hasn't been used in a year, a jigsaw and a circular saw that get used every 4-6 months).

However, that last project involved thicknessing a few boards down by a quarter inch by scrub plane, and while I can do that by hand accurately enough (now), it's a fairly lengthy process and I was pondering buying a lunchbox thicknesser.

Thing is, I work in an 8x6 shed at the bottom of a garden in a housing estate with houses all around, and thicknessers... well, they're not the quietest things in the world, especially the lunchbox ones as nobody makes one of them with an induction motor. So I'm wondering - how do you guys (the amateurs doing this at home, not the professionals that is) handle noise and neighbours with tools like this? Or is it just a recipe for annoyed neighbours and complaints?

the_pen_turner

not much you can do. just make the noise as early in the evenings as you can and not too early in the morning

timfromtang

You could perhaps insulate your shed, that would reduce the noise somewhat. And i agree with the previous poster, do it in the early evening, or during the day, and you should be fine. In your defense the average lawnmower is not too quiet either. Do your neighbours use noisy strimmers or lawnmowers at weekends?

tim

Sparks

The shed has some echo-deadening foam on the inside (the stuff you use inside recording studios), but it doesn't stop all noise. It's grand for (say) chopping mortices by hand, but a thicknesser is about a jet engine's worth louder than that

And I wouldn't think of lawnmowers as noisy Tim, but unless people were using jackhammers after midnight I don't generally get irked by machinery noise. Whether that's reciprocated on the other hand...

recipio

Does it have to be a benchtop thicknesser ? I would suggest a secondhand planer thicknesser. I know space is the big problem but you could feed in the timber through the door. The other problem is dust extraction - you will need it ! Its give and take - we all make noise especially the Sunday morning warriors power washing the car so it comes down to mutual tolerance ?

Sparks

I'd love to recipio, induction motor, helical head, it'd be way quieter; but there's not really enough room for a lunchbox thicknesser, so a floor-standing 260 model is just not possible. 8'x6' shed, don't forget. Hell, my mitre saw lives upstairs in the house and I have to cart it downstairs and outside to use it (which really only happens when breaking down raw boards for rough cuts)