Table of Contents
How do beginners use planers?
Can you use just a planer?
To flatten a board with just a thickness planer, secure the board to a perfectly flat and rigid support structure (I show how I made mine in the following steps) Run it through your planer until the topside of the board is flat. Run the board through the planer with the now-flat side down.
How short of a piece of wood can you run through the planer?
Most planer manufacturers advise against planing pieces shorter than 12″.
Can you run pressure treated wood through a planer?
There should be no issue running pressure-treated boards through a planer, however, if you do a little housekeeping afterward. Give the planer a good blasting off with an air hose after you finish for the day to reduce the amount of PT sawdust left in the machine.
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.
How does a hand held planer work?
Like a jointer, the planer has blades mounted on a cutter head or drum that spins at 20,000 rpm, removing wood equal to the difference in elevation between the front and rear shoes. The front hand grip doubles as a depth-adjustment gauge.
What is a planer tool?
A planer is used to shave wood from the surface of boards. Imagine scraping a knife across the top of a block of butter. That’s pretty much the action with a planer – though you might need a bit more muscle power! They’re used to make a rough surface flat and smooth, or to reduce its thickness.
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 is the frog on a hand plane?
The frog is a casting that supports the blade on the plane body and allows for back-and-forth and side-to-side adjustment. Poor contact with either the plane body or the blade results in vibration called chatter, so this component must be flattened and fitted as precisely as possible.
Why should you wait until the blades have stopped before putting the planer down?
Wait for the cutter to stop before setting the tool down. An exposed rotating cutter may engage the surface leading to possible loss of control and serious injury.
When operating the planer where should you stand?
Do not set a planer down until blades have stopped turning. Stand on the side of the planer near the controls. Never stand behind stock when being fed into the planer.
How much wood should the thickness planer remove in one pass?
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.
Can I use a planer on painted wood?
Painted wood dulls planer blades rapidly because paint contains abrasive minerals. If you are really attached to certain pieces of painted lumber, a set of dull blades may not be a huge issue. One way to make planing painted wood safer is to give it the once-over with a metal detector designed for checking lumber.
Should I Plane deck joists?
Deck joists do not need to be perfect, but they need to be consistent. More rigid decking material will hide the joist inconsistency better. Deck joists supporting 1 ½” (38mm) or 5/4” (32mm) dimensional wood decking do not need to be planed.
Can you Plane paint off wood?
Some of that paint was incredible. I would recommend running all of the boards through on an old set of blades at the smallest cut to take off the paint. If it isn’t a latex based paint it will likely ruin a set of blades. Basically you just want to skim off as much paint and as little wood as you can get away with.
Do you have to sand after using a planer?
If you are happy with the surface as it is now, there is no need to now sand it. To determine if the surface is ready for the color coat, wet a clean rag with alcohol or lacquer thinner. Wipe and wet the surface. This will highlight any sanding miscues or other surface blemishes.
Does a planer cut both sides?
With one flat face, you can now put the flat face down on your planer bed and pass it through to flatten the opposite face. Since you already have one flat face to index off of, your planer will cut the opposing face parallel to the flat face.
Do I need to sand after planing?
All it takes is a light sanding to open up the pores of the wood. Anything higher than an 80 grit will begin to reseal the wood and the stain will not penetrate. Mill glaze is the effect that happens when the knives of the planer get hot during the planing process.
When would you use a planer tool?
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.
