What is the process for planing longer pieces?

As long as the wood is feeding through on its own I don't change the blades. DO NOT PUT PRESSURE OVER THE BLADES OR IN FRONT OF THEM. If you had to recommend three, which hand planes should I start with? It may vary depending upon your model. And thanks for the reply. Paul describe how to do this here: The other method which I would probably revert to as soon as I saw there was troublesome grain, is to use the No.80 cabinet scraper, although that would be to get a smooth even surface, not for getting the board to thickness. I was a little surprised by this, but I think its still a good method as that divot was extremely shallow. A comment about planing against the grain: Some woods and some pieces of lumber will have swirly grain, so even on one face of the lumber, you will be planing against the grain in some areas. If you ease up on this and look how Paul holds his hands you should be able to feel after the shaving. The high spots get darkened by the lead and the low spots remain white. DW735x. You'll also get the ridging effect if the blades are not sharp enough. Although its original setting was correct, with wear it becomes too loose. What model number is this in the video? This happened in December FWIW. I outline first. Angle the board 15 to 30 degrees coming into the planer. This defect will occur only on one side of the lumber if the lumber is planed the same direction on each side. I borrowed a planer, and it was well used, and did not have new blades. I tend to believe the blades had nicks. That adds up to four times the cutting life. You should be applying pressure to rear of the planer a little behind the blades. Don't use a planer. You'll be there all day and night with an orbital. But if it works I guess. Here is the result using this method. Heres how. For furniture making, it's always worth spending time after any prep-work to carefully hand-plane, scrape and sand all surfaces prior to finishing. Copyright 2022 Meredith Corporation. I know my blades have nicks in them. I didn't know what else to do. Are you planning end grain? The edge of the blade should just meet the plane surface formed by the rear platen.

Planing end grain is also harder on your blades. No major snipe, but just the divot. I think I have been experiencing the same issue. As far as planing action is concerned you may be pushing down on the nose of the plane at the end of the stroke. I have a dw735 and I get these lines on my boards no matter what. Doc's picture about blade depth setting is also significant, particularly if you've ever removed the blades for sharpening or whatever. Here are simple solutions. I put another set it and had the same issue, I put a helical head in and I did not have the issue. Start at 60 grit. I don't have one, but my ROS does a great job. I recently bought an aftermarket spiral cutterhead for my jointer. Also, straight knives can be a hassle to replace and adjust. If you are not using a dust collection system the shavings can end up (for the lack of a better word) recycled and cause chipping of the knives. Try setting a straight edge ( like a steel ruler or the blade of a square) along the rear shoe and if the blades do more than just touch it then they definitely need to be set shallower. The table must also be long enough to hold the full length of the lumber. And I have carefully looked at each board as it has come out of the planer, and see no evidence of any brads or nails, or kickback from a nail in any of the boards. I didnt think this one would work as well as it did, but as you can see by the lead markings, it really only had a little snipe on the corner where you would expect it. It doesn't take very long to do. You can see here the divot that was left in the lead edge of the board. Great job demonstrating your methods on how to eliminate snipe. I am trying to determine what model number this is so that I can see if there is a shelix cutterheard kit for it. The little lines are no big deal, they'd sand right out. :shock: I used to own one identical to yours in all but its model name and colour. I will appreciate anything anyone else would like to provide. See my disclosure page for info on affiliate programs.

Slender, sharp knives (large rake angles) will help the situation. All equipment (routers, shapers, jointers, planers, drum sanders) with cutting heads snipe. This first way to get rid of snipe is the easiest but most wasteful. The knife is still sharp, but it has more metal. My Dewalt planer did this from day 1 out of the box. Understand that a planer knife is actually spinning in a circle, so its cut on the lumber is not flat but is a small groove or dished area, a small arc of the circle. :wink: Is it continuous all the way along the board or just at the start or end? Send one short board through first. By lifting oneend you are keeping the other end of the board from teetering up into the cutterhead. Found a problem with the site? The part Im touching in the photo below is the front of the infeed table. I know with planing you can get those ridges from the wood "bouncing" over the cutter block. The fourth method to reduce planer snipe is best suited for glue ups vs. individual boards. The lines are caused by nicks in the blade. Not so with spiral cutters. I lowered the front shoe so one corner barely touched the polycarbonate, then mixed a batch of Devcon, smeared it on the front shoe, and set the whole thing down on the flat. Wisdom comes with age and experience. Quote: Let's see- if the planer is cutting some at a '0' setting then I think that's a lot of your problem right there. With torn grain, you can take your finger nail and flick up the loose edges of the grain. Often when getting near final thickness, I begin making thickness adjustments in very small 1/64th increments and I can reduce the snipe depth to where its easily sandable. Personally I wouldn't be too happy if I did. The years of experience a woodworker has often shows up in the color of their hair. If you dont own a thickness planer but are thinking of getting one then this will be a helpful post to get your familiar with the planer as well. Thought it was snipe but if it's parallel to direction of travel in the planer then yeah knives or cutters are fucked. Then as you go through the stroke you transfer the pressure so that by the end of the stroke you are pushing down more on the rear hand. My friends over at RIDGID Power Tools asked me to put together some tips for folks using planers, but these techniques will work with any portable/lunchbox style planer. Since I am new to all of this, I was looking for input as well. Do your ridges always occur off one side of your planer? Other than getting new blades, how can i easily get rid of these lines ? But if it's cutting a fair depth at '0' then all bets are off and you'll get the ridges and more that you're getting, plus you won't really be able to trust the planer. Here is a nice graphic from a Highland Woodworking article on planer snipe that shows it well. Wood loves to be worked with a card scraper. On this RIDGID planer it is a set screw with a locking nut. I have a delta 13 inch planer. I still use hss blades in my planer, as well as my jointer. Happy mowing! Let Mother Nature be your co-designer as you build dazzling projects with wavy edges, bristly burrs, bark inclusions, and other flaws that give wood a look of unrefined beauty. Probably more so from glue than end grain tbh glue is hard as shit. Cut out template with the jigsaw. About the jig used in post 9 it can be used by draw filing to remove heavy nicks. I am in the process of planing gym flooring to put down in my house. I just don't think it compares to the one I have now. Difficult? Its easy to assume the rollers are the culprit on a lunchbox configuration, although I can see how the feeds will compound the problem. Coming out of the planer, and even after sanding, the piece will look smooth, but as soon as a little moisture hits the surface (high relative humidity or water-based finishes) the crushed areas will spring back and give the lumber a rippled appearance. Pretty frustrating. Not to hard to take out with a hand plane, its just annoying. I was very frustrated the first time I rotated the blades in my 735 to get rid of the lines, and quickly had them back again. As the start of the stroke, you should be registering the nose of the plane and put more weight on the front of the plane. The Fora platform includes forum software by XenForo, https://www.amazon.com/Byrd-Tool-woodworking-Shelix-cutterhead/dp/B0756QS699, https://www.grizzly.com/products/GrpZpzVo8YtIiOiLcw11hFCqWAzyEBNK80aAosEEALw_wcB, VerticalScope Inc., 111 Peter Street, Suite 600, Toronto, Ontario, M5V 2H1, Canada. You can contact us here. Its an older RIDGID model (here is the new model) and it is technically portable though I wouldnt want to be slinging it around it often. I have had it happen on my Ridgid lunchbox planer, it has left these lines also when I have had build up on or behind my blades. I've run a ton of lumber through mine and I have yet to rotate the cutters. How To Build Built-in Bookshelves with a Desk, Use Sacrificial Side Runners for Glue Ups. But the knives are indexed. A forum community dedicated to professional woodworkers and enthusiasts. Once you get this figured out, then you can learn how pressure on diffrent parts of the planer can work to your advantage ( Planing sideways at the nose flip, etc.) Yes. Slide one all the way to the left, another to the right, then if theres a 3rd move that one around too. You know that router plane kit we said was coming? It will only occur with woods that have a large density difference within an individual annual growth ring; that is, the early-formed wood (sometimes called spring wood) is lower density than the later-grown wood (sometimes called summer wood). The fifth method for reducing planer snipe is to run the boards through on an angle. Planing defects such as snipe, ripples and raised, chipped or fuzzy grain can ruin your day and your project. The root causes of Snipe has more to do with the physics of speed/momentum of your cutter head than the configuration of the infeed and outfeed rollers. Because thats end grain, Also sending end grain though a lunchbox planer is russian roulette. I was taught to use a sled for thin or short stock. So far ran something like 130 12 footers and 80 8 footers. If youve ever used a thickness planer in your woodworking then youve likely dealt with snipe. Depending on your planer, (I have the DW735), but your knives can be notoriously soft (as the DW735 are), and putting end grain can (which is really hard on planers) could be increasing your changes to get this. Have something to say? Also, which is your favorite? This is a common event when dull knives are used or high stock removal occurs (that is, each knife is removing a lot of material). Here a couple of things that might help apart from making sure your plane is sharp and set. A third potential cause will happen when the knives are fairly dull. Use a low-angle block plane or spent a bunch of time sanding it. All is not lost though. Accurate setting of the cutter block with reference to the outfeed table is the key and the setting will depend on ther hardness of the wood you plane. I'm using a standard Black&Decker planer, nothing fancy. I assume that my questions apply to most power planers. Often, in practice the cure is to use a sanding sealer or wash coat on the lumber after planing but before sanding. The only I thing I ask of a planer thicknesser is accurate dimensioning - not a final finish. To name a few; a mis-set plane, a nick in the blade, a nick in the sole, and non-continuous rounding on the corner of the blade. Fuzz does cause blotchiness when staining and a roughness of the finish. this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines. If you're happy with it then that's all that counts. I have become more careful about running glued up boards where the glue line will be cut. Thanks for the response, great points there on the physics of it all. Have you ever planed a piece of wood and then found that the first 6 inches or the last 6 inches of the lumber is a bit thinner than the rest of the piece? Not usually something that is recommended. They are indeed small chips in the blades. You have the exact Ridgid Model Planer that I have, though mine is currently in storage. My solution. You never showed how method #2 worked for reducing snipe. Gene Wengert, The Wood Doctor has been training people in efficient use of wood for 35 years. It was suggested that brads used to fasten the boards down might be causing these lines. Gotta be careful raising fed trays, you can create a dish effect on long boards (thinner in middle instead of flat). You can feed multiple pieces through your planer at the same time.

When you guys are learning the finer points of planer use, One of the biggest mistakes is not putting pressure on the correct part of the planer. Carbide is also more brittle and susceptible to chipping. In this case, especially with narrower pieces, the lumber will not be held tightly but will chatter up and down, creating some large ripples that require a lot of sanding. If you replaced blades and it just started sniping, your blades are cutting too much, retract them a tenth or two mills. All Rights Reserved. Am I doing something wrong?Travis Adair, Cincinnati, Ohio. Its a matter of physics.With method #3, avoid butting the front and back sacrificial pieces together with your main piece, rather stagger them/offset them. This works great for the minimal effort needed to do it. They are on little pins. The many square cutters on a spiral cutterhead make adjustments easy but typically leave a slightly less-finished board.rn. The bad news of doing this is that the knife will work well for dense woods, but will likely fuzz the lighter weight woods. A Better DIY Cordless Tool Storage Cabinet. The Leading Cause Of Injury In Older Men Is Them Thinking They Are Still Young Men. Just really, really light passes. This is a great method to reduce snipe. It's here! He can practically get to the finished shape using only the planer using very shallow cuts and a very skilled hand. Wide belt sanders are for flat and perfectly smooth. Why? Keep your favorite wines, stemware, and serving accessories handy in this stylish unit. The planer that I use is referred to as a lunchbox planer. The card or cabinet scraper dont work very well with soft woods. Rub some alcohol on it to soften the end grain and hit it with a low angle Jack plane. I'm starting to notice more chipping if I take thicker passes, but that's after probably close to 500bf of mixed hard and soft wood. Also, low-density species have weaker fibers, especially aspen and cottonwood. I'm not familiar with the cutter-setting arrangement for the Black and Decker planers, but I suspect yours may be a little bent or out of adjustment. I wont use this method as there are much better ones. Stand to the side. Blessed with an eye for potential, David Willett looked at his dark, unfinished 112-car garage built in 1956 and saw the bones of a workshop. I think its because the rollers are rubber and even though they have engaged with the runners they still impact the front edge and cause a little bounce into the cutterhead. Im still on my first set of knives, and no problems at all. Have a look at the following video to see the process Paul goes through when preparing a plane for use: https://woodworkingmasterclasses.com/2016/01/restoring-the-bench-plane/.