As a professional woodworker, whenever resurfacing used wood panels we would always use a machine called a THICKNESS SANDER.
Works the same as a thickness planner, but instead of knives it has sandpaper rollers, they skim exactly what it is set at. No tears in the wood and perfectly smooth and uniform thickness to every board & ready to refinish. A belt sander on the other hand will create dips and waves in the wood. If you go to a cabinet company and rent time on a thickness sander you will have exactly what you want. Just my 2 cents. Hope this helps.
