HELP! My planer is scalloping my board!

[Kurt Cady]

I'm trying to finish up making some cutting boards for Xmas, but my planer is making the task difficult.

After gluing up the panel and sending it through the planer, the surface is scalloped. I've tried taking light passes on either side of the board to remove them, but it isn't working. The board appears to be flat (not cupped)

Has anyone seen this before? Any ideas?Planer scallops.jpg

I've tried to post a picture, but not sure it worked.

[John TenEyck]

Do you mean scallops across the board, like coming from the knives? If so, one of the knives is too high or too low.

John

[Kurt Cady]

Do you mean scallops across the board, like coming from the knives? If so, one of the knives is too high or too low.

John

No. I think the picture is working now. If you look at the end of the panel, the scallops are along the panel - perpendicular to the end grain.

It's a straight knife planer - not spiral

[Rob Holcomb]

I've had that happen, primarily with Cherry. It happened because I didn't orient the grain correctly so some strips were going one direction while others were going the other direction so when I fed it through the planer, the boards entering with the grain going the wrong way ended up with the scalloping. Try turning the board around and sending it through. You run the risk of the same thing happening to other boards but maybe they will be fine. Just take a light pass so if it does damage other boards you always can hit the board with a belt sander to fix the issue.

[Jim Neeley]

Have you checked your cutters for dings? A ding where some of the metal is pushed proud will leave longitudinal cuts.

[Kurt Cady]

Have you checked your cutters for dings? A ding where some of the metal is pushed proud will leave longitudinal cuts.

I know it isn't a knife ding, I have a small one of those too!

[Kurt Cady]

I've had that happen, primarily with Cherry. It happened because I didn't orient the grain correctly so some strips were going one direction while others were going the other direction so when I fed it through the planer, the boards entering with the grain going the wrong way ended up with the scalloping. Try turning the board around and sending it through. You run the risk of the same thing happening to other boards but maybe they will be fine. Just take a light pass so if it does damage other boards you always can hit the board with a belt sander to fix the issue.

Interesting, I'll try that out. I do know I didn't pay all that close of attention to grain direction.

I was hoping to avoid running the whole panel through the drum sander. The planer is much quicker!

[Myk Rian]

I was hoping to avoid running the whole panel through the drum sander. The planer is much quicker!

But many people would argue the sander is the better choice for the finished surface.

[Howard Acheson]

Is it just me? I'm not seeing any picture.

[Kurt Cady]

I've had that happen, primarily with Cherry. It happened because I didn't orient the grain correctly so some strips were going one direction while others were going the other direction so when I fed it through the planer, the boards entering with the grain going the wrong way ended up with the scalloping. Try turning the board around and sending it through. You run the risk of the same thing happening to other boards but maybe they will be fine. Just take a light pass so if it does damage other boards you always can hit the board with a belt sander to fix the issue.

Have you had this happen without having any tearout? I don't have a tearout

[Richard Coers]

Proper dust collection? If overloaded, chips can get recycled around the head and get trapped between the cutter and the board.

[Kurt Cady]

Proper dust collection? If overloaded, chips can get recycled around the head and get trapped between the cutter and the board.

Plenty of DC and the scallops are on the order of 12" long

[Kurt Cady]

But many people would argue the sander is the better choice for the finished surface.

This is happening at the panel stage, prior to cutting strips and turning them end grain up. Will def use drum sander for flattening the end grain

[ed vitanovec]

What model planer are you using? Have you done this process before?

[glenn bradley]

Plenty of DC and the scallops are on the order of 12" long

Interesting. So these are not blade alignment issues which would be close groups of scallops. These are more like waves in the sea and only on some boards. I would have to go with material characteristic but, this is a new one on me ;-)