Planer help for thinner woods

[OCtoolguy]

I have recently acquired a Delta planer in the 12 inch range. I also bought a box of cutoffs from Ocoochee that has a lot of great wood in it but in odd thicknesses. If somebody out there could give me a quick idea of how to go about planing some of this wood down to 1/4", I'd sure appreciate it. I know there has to be more to it than just running it through. Do I need to attach it in some way to a thicker piece of wood to act as a sled or should I be able to go down to 1/4" running just the board through by itself? I've run other wood through just to clean it up but I've never done anything down to this thickness. Any and all help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[RangerJay]

I have never really had any difficulty planing down to 1/4 inch - but do make an effort to try to minimize time, waste and also tear-out.  If I can I will resaw the board to 3/8 or a little more (no less) - it's important to have confidence that your bandsaw is cutting true - (kinda frustrating to find one side of the resawn board at 3/8 inch - and the other at 1/4 with a bunch of bandsaw blade marks to plane out .....).  For setting the first cutting depth I simply crank the deck down to point the rollers grab the wood - and in my case - then start planing 1/2 turn of the deck wheel at a time till I engage the wood - after that I will maintain 1/2 turn of the deck wheel till I am starting to approach 1/4 inch thickness then change to 1/4 turn of the deck wheel and finally 1/8 turn of the deck wheel till the 1/4 inch thickness is reached.  Seems to work for me - never had trouble and I do it all the time.

Should also mention that I do plane down to 1/8 thickness  - so far without issues - but with a less confidence and a lot more caution - (I'm pretty sure somewhere in your planer manual you will find a phrase that says "do not plane anything below 1/4") ......  having said that I follow the same technique as above but will only use boards that are absolutely clear of knots/wild grain and my increments of changing the deck height wheel are smaller .... so far so good .....

Hope this makes sense - and is helpful.

Jay

 

Edited June 15, 2018 by RangerJay

[Karl S]

I might add that you need to make sure the board is not too short, it needs to contact both the infeed and outfeed rollers when going through your planer.

 

[OCtoolguy]

Thanks to both of you. So, If I'm understanding both of you, I don't need any kind of a "sled" for wood that thin? I do understand about the "not too short" thing too. The wood I am going to plane down is all 18 to 24 inches in length. Nothing shorter at this point.

 

[stoney]

Ray if your wood is cutoffs I assume it is quite short.   You need to use a sled to plane it halfway safely.   I use double faced tape to secure the pieces to the sled.   Take very thin cuts and stand off to the side of your planer.   I have planed down to 1/16 or less with this method.   Remember very important, take very thin cuts.   You can't rush the process.   Your not in a hurry anyway are ya?   LOL   

[Woodmaster1]

1/4” should be no problem I have plane to an 1/8” without any difficulty. If I want thinner than an 1/8” I use my drum sander.

[Dan]

Jay has some good tips. I'll just add to watch grain direction too. Watch some videos and practice. 

[OCtoolguy]

I like the idea of a sled of some kind. Thanks again everybody.

 

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

Ray when milling your own lumber there is more to it than just running through a planner. From what you said I believe you have a Delta lunch box type planner as they are called. Not sure if it is a newer model or an older model. Weather the roller blades ride on a 2 post system or a 4 post system. But they all produce snipe of some sort. This is where the drum sander comes into play (you can plane close to desired dimension and sand the rest of the way thus eliminating snipe marks)or you can just cut the ends of the board to rid the snipe marks. The proper way to plane a board down is to alternate the sides when planning. In other words take the same amount off both sides of the board and this goes for using a drum sander. If you take all material off one side you released the stress within the board and it will warp toward that side. If you take off material from both sides of the board you balance the stress levels. All wood has internal stress. 

Now to address the snipe situation you need to have the board remain level going into the planer as well as coming out at all times. Any dipping when entering or leaving will make the snipe marks more pronounced. Most planers come with attachable table extensions. When used they must be level with the planer bed. Some are add ons and some are just fold out. Now sometimes this is not long enough when doing long boards so some other platform is needed to support both sides of the board. Can be a set of roller helpers or even a box set at exact level with planer bed. 

As mentioned by others, grain direction is important. You want to plane with the grain and not against it or you will have tear out. You want to take lite passes and not try to hog off too much. Yes you can plane to 1/4" without much problem. I will say this that is alot of wasted material. If you had a bandsaw capable to resaw your boards that is what I would do. You then can get 2 boards out of a 3/4" thick board and much less work on the planner. Good luck. 

[OCtoolguy]

Thanks once again John. I have the planer as pictured here. I got it for a great price so I couldn't turn it down. I also have a Delta 14" band saw that I suppose is capable of resawing if I have the correct blade. The wood that I am thinking about planing is some scraps that I got from Ocoochee in a sample box. Some of it is thinner that 1/4" and some of it is thicker. Some of the wood is close to 1/4" but needs to be cleaned up on one side or both. I am not going to try to thin down any of the thicker boards. I'll find uses for them as is. I just want to make the thinner wood useable in my smaller projects. I truly appreciate you taking the time to explain all that you did. I will take it all into consideration before attempting to do this.

Oh, and to edit this post, my biggest problem is my small shop. I would love to have a drum sander but I just don't have the space. I'm keeping my eyes open for a used 10" of either Grizzly or Jet but they are still out of my price range so far. 

 

Edited June 16, 2018 by octoolguy

[Woodmaster1]

Put some paste wax on the table it will help the boards slide through the planer easier. Good luck on your quest for thinner boards.

[OCtoolguy]

2 hours ago, Woodmaster1 said:

Put some paste wax on the table it will help the boards slide through the planer easier. Good luck on your quest for thinner boards.

Thanks for the tip. I will do that. Yesterday I made a dust collector for it so I won't have the huge mess that goes along with planing. I also found that the blades are reversible so I now have two new knives. The guy who had it before me must have planed gravel down to a very thin consistency. HA!

 

 

[Scrappile]

Good chip/dust collection is important.  If you don't have it, chips build up on the rollers and boards won't feed well and in opinion increase the likely hood of snipe.  I have a Delta planner,  it has been a good one as long and I keep sharp blades in it and keep it as clean as possible.  After several uses I will tear mind down and vacuum, brush and wipe as clean as possible, everything I can get to.  My manual even says take the rollers out and wash them periodically.  I have not done that because I have not been able to figure out how to get the completely out of the machine!!  But I do clean then.  Between each use I will at a minimum take a brush and brush off all the chips that may be stuck to the rollers..  Brush, switch on so roller roll a little, off, brush again..... 

I think one of the biggest mistakes user make is trying to make quick work of planning.  As mentioned, light passes.... and wear hearing protection!

Edited June 17, 2018 by Scrappile

[OCtoolguy]

22 hours ago, Scrappile said:

Good chip/dust collection is important.  If you don't have it, chips build up on the rollers and boards won't feed well and in opinion increase the likely hood of snipe.  I have a Delta planner,  it has been a good one as long and I keep sharp blades in it and keep it as clean as possible.  After several uses I will tear mind down and vacuum, brush and wipe as clean as possible, everything I can get to.  My manual even says take the rollers out and wash them periodically.  I have not done that because I have not been able to figure out how to get the completely out of the machine!!  But I do clean then.  Between each use I will at a minimum take a brush and brush off all the chips that may be stuck to the rollers..  Brush, switch on so roller roll a little, off, brush again..... 

I think one of the biggest mistakes user make is trying to make quick work of planning.  As mentioned, light passes.... and wear hearing protection!

Does turning off my hearing aids work for "hearing protection" or do I need shooting muffs too?

 

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

29 minutes ago, octoolguy said:

Does turning off my hearing aids work for "hearing protection" or do I need shooting muffs too?

 

WHAT???

[Scrappile]

If you can hear with hearing AIDS  you still have some hearing.  I would definitely want to protect what I had left...

Edited June 18, 2018 by Scrappile

[OCtoolguy]

12 minutes ago, Scrappile said:

I'd if you can hear with hearing AIDS  you still have some hearing.  I would definitely want to protect what I had left...

Just yanking your chain Paul. I ruined my hearing after all the years of competitive pistol shooting and selling tools in body shops. Oh, and standing between two M-48 tanks when they fired simultaneously at Fort Irwin. The Aids really don't help much with the spoken word. Especially my wife. They call it "selective hearing". Ha!

 

[CharleyL]

When I want to plane stock that thin I've bee using a piece of flat 3/4 cabinet birch ply about 2' long and attaching the thin stock to it with double sided tape. Even fairly short and thin seems to go through my DeWalt 735 without a problem, but if the piece is shorter than the front to back dimension of my planer, I always use longer similar thickness strips to the thickness of the short piece, attached to the 3/4 plywood on each side of my short piece, to lift the planer's feed rollers and steady the cutter head before the short piece reaches them. This is a habit that I got into before getting the DeWalt 735, because it keeps the planer head level and working both before and after the short piece goes through the cutter, minimizing the chances for any snipe and lifting of the short piece by the cutter blades.

It's much safer to use a drum sander when working with woods this thin, especially when they are short. I have a drum sander from Stockroom Supply that I frequently use for small pieces of wood, if I only need to remove a little.

 

Charley

 

Edited June 20, 2018 by CharleyL

[OCtoolguy]

3 hours ago, CharleyL said:

When I want to plane stock that thin I've bee using a piece of flat 3/4 cabinet birch ply about 2' long and attaching the thin stock to it with double sided tape. Even fairly short and thin seems to go through my DeWalt 735 without a problem, but if the piece is shorter than the front to back dimension of my planer, I always use longer similar thickness strips to the thickness of the short piece, attached to the 3/4 plywood on each side of my short piece, to lift the planer's feed rollers and steady the cutter head before the short piece reaches them. This is a habit that I got into before getting the DeWalt 735, because it keeps the planer head level and working both before and after the short piece goes through the cutter, minimizing the chances for any snipe and lifting of the short piece by the cutter blades.

It's much safer to use a drum sander when working with woods this thin, especially when they are short. I have a drum sander from Stockroom Supply that I frequently use for small pieces of wood, if I only need to remove a little.

 

Charley

 

Thanks Charley, I'll take all that into consideration. I wish I had room for a drum sander. Now, if you were my next door neighbor, I would have one handy.