Planing Thin Stock

[Clark Harbaugh]

Any suggestions on planing thin resawed stock to prevent tearout at the end of the piece? I am resawing some 8/4 walnut (not overly figured) to use in a bent lamination piece for a headboard. I get great results with my planer down to 1/8", except that it tears out at the very end. One solution is to just buy a longer board to compensate, but I hate the thought and sound of chunks of wood bouncing around the cutter head...

Would using a bed board help at all? I cant seem to wrap my brain around the logic that it would. It seems to me that if it tears out at 3/16" or 1/8" thickness on the bed, then it would at the same thickness on a bed board.

The correct option would be a nice drum sander. However, I have already conned my wife into the bandsaw, new table saw, and jointer this year. I would be pressing my luck to go for something else that large:)

[Gordon Eyre]

First I would ensure that you don't have snipe at the end of the run. Second, I would use a bed board and some two sided tape to secure and support the piece through its run. 1/8" is getting pretty thin for most planers. I would never run one that thin through my planer without a bed board.

[Neil Brooks]

I might suggest tacking it (with double-sided tape) to a carrier board AND putting sacrificial pieces -- same thickness -- directly before and after the "object" piece.

[Ben Martin]

I might suggest tacking it (with double-sided tape) to a carrier board AND putting sacrificial pieces -- same thickness -- directly before and after the "object" piece.

I have done this with success, but didn't use the extra pieces at the leading and trailing edges...

[Peter Quinn]

1/8" is simply too thin for most planers, you really need a thickness sander, there are a few tricks as mentioned above but I have found the results to be less than perfect, so be prepared for that. and leave at least 6" extra inches, maybe a little up front too. I have used the tape and backer and stopped the tear out at the end only to have thin laminations get broken trying to remove them from the PSA tape! Not always a great improvement, so be careful there too. With a sander and a good BS you can just cut the laminations and leave maybe .040" for sanding and skip the planer all together. They make a thicknesser for a drill press called the Luthiers friend if a thickness sander is not in the realm of possibilities.

In any event don't stand at the infeed table of the planer at the end of a pass as you plane thin stock. Things can get spit back at you. DAMHIK!

[Van Huskey]

You can try the tricks mentioned but as you already know a drum sander (Jet/Performax work well with thin stock) is the best option. BUT, buying a little extra wood is cheaper then a sander...