Planer

[kahlid74]

As I delve more into wood working I'd like to get a feel for recommendations on a good Planer and possibly what to look for when evaluating planers.  Think of me as a planer noob.

[yaksplat]

I have a 13" rockwell machine. I'd recommend it.   


I think it's about 12-15 years older than me.  I inherited it, along with 80% of my tools from my grandfather.

I do think that the heavier the machine, the better



Keep in mind, if you plan on using roughsawn lumber, you should be using a tablesaw, jointer, and then a planer to get your boards square.  If you're just taking dressed lumber down in thickness, a planer will work out fine for you.

I see a lot of good reviews on the dewalt planer on amazon.  It looks like a decent machine, but i don't think you'd be able to throw a 12' board through it without it tipping over.  Yet again, it depends on what you're doing.

[TopJimmyCooks]

Planers are best used for prepping rough stock.  You have to have a jointer and nice TS to come up with a workflow that makes sense to do that.  Through inheritances I've ended up with a half decent jointer and TS but no planer.  the portables I've used aren't that great and take a lot of setup to support infeed/outfeed properly.  So I've never gotten one for myself.  I've never had access to or need for a lot of rough cut lumber, I always just get the hardwood dealer to do whatever prep I need on their mega machines.  If I had a nice, big one like Yak I'd probably buy and mill more roughsawn.  I just don't mill enough right now to justify it. 

What type of stuff are you looking to thickness?  What type of proj. are you looking to do?

Non Norm counterpoint - it's fun to use a jack plane and jointer plane with winder sticks to prep boards.  I did it a couple of times, enjoyed it, was satisfied, and haven't really ever done it again. 

[kahlid74]

I guess what I was looking for was taking lumber from say Home Depot and flattening it as some of them warp.  The old strategy I was using was to "eye" it up and then choose the best lumber but I thought I could use a planer to level it.  I think my understanding of a planer was incorrect as in this situation it's not used for this.

[yaksplat]

A planer won't remove the warp from a board.  It will create a parallel warp on the other side of the board.  A planer creates a surface that is parallel to the bottom surface.

When dressing rough sawn boards here is the process.

• make an initial rip on the tablesaw.  All sides of the board are dependent on this rip being straight.
• rip a parallel cut on the table saw.  This is the final board width.  This step could be done at any time after #1
• run the board across the jointer.  This will create a surface that is 90 degrees to the first cut.  Any warping is removed here.  This is the step that is the most difficult as any mistakes here will show up on the final board.  Push too hard and the warp will remain.
• run the board through the planer. This will remove the opposite side of the warp.  This is the easiest step, since it's automatic and the machine does all the work and there's not much skill involved.  The planer just translates your jointer skills to the opposite surface.

[Sparkolicious]

I have one of these.  Probably over 10 years old now, but it works well.

http://www.homedepot.com/buy/ridgid-13-in-thickness-planer-r4331.html#.UG2vj5hFVcw

[Woodshop Flunky]

As was mentioned, you will need a jointer and a planer to flatten wood.

I have the following:

http://www.grizzly.com/products/6-x-46-Jointer-with-Mobile-Base-Polar-Bear-Series-/G0452P

and

http://www.amazon.com/DEWALT-DW735-13-Inch-Thickness-Planer/dp/B0000CCXU8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1349451663&sr=8-2&keywords=dewalt+planer

I'm very happy with both.

Also, when it comes to truing up wood, I never use big box wood.  Not being a snob, but if I buy a 3/4 board, by the time I finish, I've got a 1/2 or 5/8 inch board.  What I do is buy from a place that sells rough lumber.  I'll get a 4/4 board and usually end up with something just over 3/4.

Their expensive, but it's really nice to be able to clean up rough lumber.  I've bought 8/4 for desk legs and 5/4 for to top of a chest of drawers.  It really frees you from the standard dimensions you get from the home improvement stores.

[yaksplat]

I'll add that you can also buy some really warped wood from some places at a huge discount.  If you only need short pieces, then you just chop up the warped board and then dress the pieces.  The smaller the piece, the easier it is to dress.

[GregD]

As said in previous posts, a planer is useless without a jointer.  If purchasing a planer, look for one with two speeds.  The slow speed produces a nice finish cut which equals less sanding.

[yaksplat]

The other way that you can control finish is taking off just a few thousandths on the last pass.  They didn't believe in multiple speeds back when my planer was built.  Instead they just used a couple hundred pounds of extra cast iron.