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A thickness planer (also known in the UK and Australia as a thicknesser or in North America as a planer) is a woodworking machine to trim boards to a consistent thickness throughout their length. This machine transcribes the desired thickness using the downside as a reference / index.
What can you do with planer?
Woodworking jointers and planers are used to mill wood so they can be used to build furniture and other projects to correct dimensions. If your workshop doesn’t have a jointer to square up an edge or your wood piece is too large to fit through, you can use your planer to flatten both pieces of wood.
Why do I need a planer?
A thickness planer serves three unique purposes that other tools do not: 1) It makes the second face of a board parallel to the other face; 2) It smooths rough stock; and 3) It reduces stock down to the exact thickness you need. If you really want to get into woodworking, a thickness planer is worth the cost.
What does a planer do in woodworking?
A wood planer helps you even out a piece of wood into a board with the exact same thickness everywhere. A correctly planed board is completely flat on both sides, eliminating rough spots or leftover bark.
Is a wood planer necessary?
Most woodworkers know that you need both a planer and a jointer to get the most out of rough lumber (at least for power tool users). If you run the other rough face on the jointer, you can certainly make it flat but you won’t make it parallel to the first face.
How much can a planer take off?
Examine the width of the lumber. Most planers remove a maximum of 3 mm per pass. If a narrow piece of lumber is being planed, the maximum amount may be removed. A piece that it at the maximum width of the planer may cause the motor to overheat and the cutter to stall.
Does a planer sand wood?
Answer from Lee Grindinger: “A planer will remove stock much, much more quickly than a drum sander. A sander is built to sand. For surfacing you’d be using a very coarse grit and this means several grit changes to get to the smoothness you’re looking for in a drum sander.
Does a planer make wood smooth?
Smooth rough-cut wood stock with a planer. The planer is a tool for woodworkers who require large quantities of planed stock and who elect to buy it rough cut. It, too, cuts with a cutterhead, but the planer smooths the face of much wider stock.
What can I use if I don’t have a planer?
Use a table saw. If you’ve got a large board to plane, a table saw might be a good option. Use a router. You can use a router to substitute for a wood planer in a similar way to a table saw. Use a jack plane. Use a wide-belt or drum sander. Get out the sandpaper. Take it to a cabinet maker.
Is a hand planer worth it?
The better tool for thicknessing stock is a dedicated benchtop planer (see photo, above). They don’t take up much storage space, even in a small shop, and they work great for reducing boards up to about 12- or 13-in. wide (depending on the planer) down to whatever thickness you need them to be.
Is a planer a sander?
Whereas sanders are used to alter the finish of wood, a wood planer is used to even out wood to an exact thickness. Planers produce boards of even thickness.
What is a planer used for in fishing?
At its very basic, a planer board is a device that allows fisherman to cover more area at one time, have more control over their lines and reach places they would not otherwise be able to reach.
Can you plane warped wood?
Mark the shim locations, remove the board and hot glue the shims into place. Then glue the board to the shims and the plywood with a dab of hot glue. Send that rascal through until it’s flat, then pull it free and plane down the other side.
What are thickness planers used for?
A thickness planer is a woodworking machine to trim boards to a consistent thickness throughout their length and flat on both surfaces. It is different from a surface planer, or jointer, where the cutter head is set into the bed surface.
Is a benchtop jointer worth it?
A: Yes, benchtop jointers are excellent tools even for beginners and hobbyists to own. A: The jointer is used to perfectly flatten out the face of a workpiece as well as square the edge. It’s a valuable tool that can greatly enhance the quality of your woodworking.
Which type of stock should never be run through the planer?
What should you avoid when using a jointer or planer? Do not cut stock that has loose knots, splits, defects or foreign objects (e.g., metal stone) in it. Do not leave the machine running unattended. Shut off the power and make sure that the cutting head has stopped revolving before leaving the area.
How short of a piece of wood can you run through the planer?
Most planer manufacturers advise against planing pieces shorter than 12″.
How deep can a hand planer cut?
The maximum depth of cut on the models I tested was just over 1/8 inch, but many tools are limited to cuts as light as 1/16 or 1/32 inch. Shallow cuts are fine if you only want to remove a small amount of stock. But if you have to remove a lot of material, it’s better to have a planer that can make deeper cuts.
