Planing tall wood

[Ian Albritton]

I recently saw a video where 2x4s were being planed on the 2x edge. How do you know if a piece of wood is too tall, compared to its width, to safely put through a planer? Is there a generally accepted safe height to width ratio?

Thanks,
Ian

[Ryan Sparreboom]

That is just fine.
I have planed boards that are 6" wide, on edge, but I make sure I have a few boards clamped together so that they are at least a few inches thick. That gives you enough support to safely do it.

Ryan

[David Christopher]

Ive planed 2X4's on edge before but I clamped a couple of them together and hade no problem of them tipping


Looks like Ryan beat me to the punch

[sean m. titmas]

i put the tallest piece that my planer will handle but instead of using a clamp i use 2 pieces of metal foil tape at each end to hold the wood together.

[Frank Drew]

Most of the force being directed to the boards on edge by the planer will tend to keep them on edge and not tipping over; a 2x4 shouldn't have any problem staying upright.

[Rick Fisher]

I do that all the time, with 4/4 stock. The planer holds it tight.. I havent done 1 x 8 but do 1 x 4 all the time. Never been an issue. .

[Richard M. Wolfe]

I have planed 4/4 material all the time with no problem. The problem you might run into is keeping the planed edge parallel, which would be a case for clamping several together. I don't see how the operation could be dangerous; if the board tipped over it would just quit planing. It would just be a nuisance to square again and you would lose a little material.

[Lee Schierer]

None of us would hesitate to plane a piece of 1" stock that was only 2" wide so a 2 X 4 should be no different. Personally I think I would have to think about planing anything narrower than 1" if the height were more than double that without clamping several pieces together.

[Ian Albritton]

I do not want to assume since I have not seen this done. When you clamp the pieces together, what kind of clamp do you use? Is there a special technique, or just clamp them together like two pieces of wood being glued? I have this terrible image of my Woodmaster heaving pieces of metal at me.

Thanks,
Ian

[Greg Cuetara]

Another option is to make a few right angle pieces about 6" long. You can clamp these to each side of the infeed table. Take your board and run it through the middle of the two right angle pieces into the planer and that will provide the lateral support you need.

I think I saw this in wood magazine a few years back.

[sean m. titmas]

I do not want to assume since I have not seen this done. When you clamp the pieces together, what kind of clamp do you use? Is there a special technique, or just clamp them together like two pieces of wood being glued? I have this terrible image of my Woodmaster heaving pieces of metal at me.

Thanks,
Ian


i use pony spring clamps for thinner stacks and if the wood is too wide for that i use metal foil tape.

[Ian Albritton]

Thank you to all who replied. The unknown is always scary the first time.

Thanks again,
Ian

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

If it fits, it fits.