Table of Contents
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.
What is the purpose of a wood planer?
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.
Is a wood planer worth it?
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 happens when using a planer on hardwood?
Doing so can cause the blade to “catch” under minute, angled imperfections in the surface of the wood. When this happens, the plane can tear small, rough chunks from the wood’s surface, rather than shaving the surface uniformly. This is called “tear-out”.
Does a planer make wood flat?
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.
Do I need a planer for woodworking?
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.
When would you use a planer tool?
With the proper skill and accessories, you can also use power planers for finesse work like beveling door edges, scribing cabinets and countertops, and shaping and tapering wood trim (Photos 3 – 5).
How wide of a planer do you need?
Some believe you should get as much capacity as possible, and others think you shouldn’t go much wider than your jointer bed. But even the smallest planer on the market is going to be about 12″ wide, which is significantly wider that most of our jointers.
Do you need 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.
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.
Is planing better than sanding?
Whereas sanders are used to alter the finish of wood, a wood planer is used to even out wood to an exact thickness. With a planer you can smooth rough lumber, clean up sawn edges and give new life to old wood. Each planed piece of wood can be used by itself or glued to other planed pieces for a thicker board or block.
Will a planer fix warped boards?
In order to flatten a warped, twisted, or cupped board, a common approach is to first use a jointer to create one perfectly flat face. Then you run the board through a thickness planer with the flat face downward, and the planer makes the top face parallel to the bottom.
Does a planer remove cupping?
It is difficult to flatten a cupped board with a thickness planer because the downward pressure of the feed rolls will press out much of the cup, thereby not allowing the planer knives to flatten the board.
Can you run painted wood through a planer?
A: Carol Reed: Yes, it’s OK, and yes, it will dull the cutters, but then everything you run through the planer will dull the cutters. That’s why they have to be sharpened from time to time.
Can you plane wood without a planer?
If you don’t have a planer, put some heavy grit sandpaper in the sander. You can then feed through the board in exactly the same way as you would to sand it. Just be prepared to spend a bit longer getting your wood to the right depth.
Can I use a table saw instead of a planer?
When surface or thickness planing wood for a project, the end product needs to be as clean and straight as possible. When working with wood, it has a tendency to move, warp, and bend as the tension is released from the material.
How does a planer machine work?
The working principle of the planer machine is the same as the shaper machine which is a Quick return motion mechanism. While the workpiece moving forward the forward strokes complete and while it moving back the return stroke complete. In a forward stroke, the material is cut and in backward no material is cut.
Do I need a hand planer?
If you’re a woodworker who needs to straighten or smooth wood, a hand plane is a must for your tool set. Whether shaving down a wood door that’s sticking or smoothing the surface of a wavy board, no tool works quite as well as a hand plane.
