I'm just getting started and my first project is to build multiple raised garden beds for my back yard.
The material is 2x4 & 2x6 pressure treated lumber. The lumber I was able to pick out it is pretty rough. I am not looking for perfection but I would like to smooth out the 32 front exterior facing 2x6.
I was initially thinking a HL 850 might work until I learned benchtop planers may be an option.

What would y'all recommend I should do to smooth out the faces of the lumber?

Pressure treated lumber is not meant to be planed or sanded.  Either process would remove the pressure treated coating and defeat the purpose of buying pressure treated lumber.  Pressure treated lumber also usually has a high surface moisture content that would make planing or sanding difficult with poor results.

Cedar is what you want to be using if you don't like the look of the pressure treated surface

I'm just getting started and my first project...

Unlikely a planer is appropriate at this point.

Pressure treated lumber is not meant to be planed or sanded.  Either process would remove the pressure treated coating and defeat the purpose of buying pressure treated lumber.  Pressure treated lumber also usually has a high surface moisture content that would make planing or sanding difficult with poor results.

Cedar is what you want to be using if you don't like the look of the pressure treated surface

The treatment goes far enough in on even crappy quality stuff to plane off the surface fuzz without any issue.

Over the years having produced many raised bed planters using treated wood, only to revisit and reconstruct the planters every 10-12 years, I've since taken a different approach.

For small individual planters, I'll take clay chimney flue liners and cut them with a diamond blade to whatever length I want. The lifetime is 20+ years, I'm still using some that are over 30 years old.




For larger planters I've installed COR-TEN items. I gave them many water rinses so that the protective oxide layer would grow on the outer surfaces. Then I placed each one and filled them with good topsoil. The lifetime should also be 20+ years but we'll see. Certainly that's double the service life of treated 2x materials.




For relatively short height walls, I've used 4 x 4 black plastic landscape timbers sold by Menards. Made in the USA from 97% recycled post-consumer plastic and containing no wood products. "BestPLUS warrants to the original purchaser that, for a period of fifteen (15) years from the date of the original purchase at retail the Product will not crack, rot, corrode, or suffer structural damage from insect infestation."

It's easily worked with traditional woodworking tools and I've staked it in-place with 1" galvanized pipe driven 40" into the ground. With some attention to hole placement and careful measurement, everything fits together well, probably because there's no warping or twisting to factor in.

They also make traditional sized 2x boards.
https://www.bestpl.us/products

I’d go with decking boards that are composites. No finishing required and the stuff last outdoors very well. I have used pressure treated lumber. Nasty stuff. I have built about 25 gun racks using the pressure treated wood and composite wood. I’ve had to replace most of the pressure treated wood over the past 20 years, but very little composite stuff.

Lots of great information. Thank you to everyone.

Agree with everything above.  In addition: I like power tools, but even if I was a hand tool guy, I'd probably still get a thickness planer for hardwood projects.  I feel like thicknessing is the most annoying operation to do by hand (followed closely by resawing).

For relatively short height walls, I've used 4 x 4 black plastic landscape timbers sold by Menards. Made in the USA from 97% recycled post-consumer plastic and containing no wood products. "BestPLUS warrants to the original purchaser that, for a period of fifteen (15) years from the date of the original purchase at retail the Product will not crack, rot, corrode, or suffer structural damage from insect infestation."

It's easily worked with traditional woodworking tools and I've staked it in-place with 1" galvanized pipe driven 40" into the ground. With some attention to hole placement and careful measurement, everything fits together well, probably because there's no warping or twisting to factor in.

Interesting. Why the two-step drilling process, Cheese? Did the Forstner bit skate?

Jointer first...a planer will create a parallel face to an existing flat surface.  The jointer creates a flat surface where there was none before.

Jointer first...a planer will create a parallel face to an existing flat surface.  The jointer creates a flat surface where there was none before.

Not necessarily.   
You can joint on a planer (except for making an exactly perpendicular edge), by putting the board on a sled and shimming the high spots.   I typically use a few dabs of Bondo, or sometimes painters tape if bow is small, others use wedges, hot melt, or probably countless other methods.
I have a jointer, but often, this is my preferred method for long boards, or if my board is already getting a bit thin and I want to just take off the minimum possible, or if the board is wider than my jointer.

Quote from: jeffinsgf on July 27, 2023, 03:56 PM

Interesting. Why the two-step drilling process, Cheese? Did the Forstner bit skate?

The max Forstner depth was about 2-1/2" so I knew I needed to drill the holes from both sides of the timber. I used my go-to 3/16" x 6" long drill bit to penetrate both sides and mark locational positions. When I started using the Forstner bit, I noticed it got really hot and it started to melt the plastic so I slowed down the rpm. That eliminated the melting issue but it became very slow going and the bit was still pretty hot and I worried about possibly annealing the Forstner bit.

My solution was to core out the centers of the holes with a hole saw and use the Forstner to clean up the holes and bring them to the proper diameter. Worked well for maintaining tolerances so that the timbers could be easily stacked without making the thru holes too large.

The 1" pipe measures 1.06" and the Forstner bit is 1.25" so there's not a lot of room to move. Here's a photo of the cap rail with counterbored holes that receives the 1" pipe. As you can see, everything lines up at a distance or 4'. 

(Attachment Link)

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