Is there a way to get a finished surface out of a planer?

[Nick Sorenson]

I've got a 15" Grizzly planer. It works well for the parts I use it for. BUT, there is plenty of snipe that has to get sanded out. I usually hit the workpiece with 80 grit until all the marks are gone and work my way up to 180 before finishing. I'd like to be able to skip the sanding. Is there a better way to do this maybe a byrd head for the planer or spiral? MAybe a finishing plane after I'm done by hand or a drum sander. What are my best options?

[David Kumm]

If you get snipe it is an adjustment problem you should be able to correct. The chipbreaker or pressure bar or both are out of whack with the cutterhead. Adjust them before throwing out the planer. Check the knives. A spiral head may give a better finish but if the machine is set right and the knives are sharp and set evenly the difference is minimal. 150 grit at the worst to fix. Dave

[johnny means]

Planers do not leave a finish ready surface, period. Snipe is different issue and can be adjusted out or trimmed off of oversized material. But, snipe or not, material should be sanded or smoothed in some manner before finishing. Even the most perfectly tuned planer with knives sharp enough to cut the hand of God will not leave a finish ready surface. Planers, by design, leave a scalloped surface which will show up after finishing. There also is a slight compressing of the outer most fibers, which will affect the materials finish and or stain absorbtion. IME a lacking sanding schedule is often the only difference between a professional looking project and an amature looking one. This is unfortunate because sanding is probably the easiest step in any project. Sanding is tedious and unglamorous. The results are not immediately seen like planing or sawing. No one comments on good sanding like they do a beautiful inlay or precise scroll work. I suspect this is why sanding is often over looked or under done. But trust me put together a good sanding regiment and you will see an immediate difference in the quality of your work.

[Larry Edgerton]

My SCMI 520 S comes darn close to a ready to finish surface, but not quite. At 16 feet per minute you can just barely see the individual cuts.

Cuts per inch and the diameter of the cutterhead are key factors. You may be able to fool with the drive gearing and slow your feed rate down a bit, and that would help. If your planer is a two speed unit make sure you are on the slower speed of feed rate.

But ya, no matter what you have there will be a little sanding to do......

Larry

[Peter Quinn]

Best case scenario a circular cutter head is going to put arched knife marks on the wood that need to come out. I'm actually LOL at your cry for a finish ready surface from the planer. Everybody wants a finish ready surface from their planer, but nobody gets one! There are planer/ wide belt combo machines that sand after every pass, but these ate rather large and expensive. Most drum sanders leave straight line scratches which must be removed by hand sanding or planing/scraping. So no magic bullet, just a lot of hand work, or lower your standards and do crappy work. I suggest getting a good sander, and just learn to do it even if you never learn to love it. Most everybody hates sanding, so you are not alone.

[scott spencer]

I've never considered a planer to be a finish ready tool. Sometimes it gets close with brand new blades, but it's inevitable that the blades will get nicked and leave some tiny ridges. Snipe can be unpredictable.

A scraper is a finish ready tool...

[Nick Sorenson]

Thanks for the replies. Snipe is not the word I meant to use. Scallops is what I'm looking for. My planer is tuned reasonably well (Not perfect) and I don't get much snipe. But I do get scallops and I have a 3 blade head and the slowest feed.

But it's taking some time to eliminate the scallops and as one person said, I could just leave it and have crappy work lol... but that's not the goal here;) I've been sanding but that leaves pigtails (DA - random orbital). So I'd like an easier better surface.

Maybe a handplane would be the way. But I don't know much about the results that'd give so I better ask.

[Brad Waugh]

check to make sure all the blades are the same height if 1 is higher that the others it will leave more pronounced scallops

[glenn bradley]

Just to clarify; these are knife scallops and not ridges from the drive rollers, yes? The reason I ask is my 15" Griz came adjusted for rough lumber. I adjusted per the manual for smooth stock and still backed the pressure off from there. It has a grip like an alligator but the ridges are near non-existent. I have the spiral head and so cannot comment on knife scallops but, your description does seem severe. I do a light touch up with a scraper for any slight machine marks that may get though although these are only present on softer woods like mahogany. All that said a floor planer is not a finish-planer (like some lunchbox models). Even my rubber-rollered lunchbox need a kiss or two with a card scraper or a plane to be finish ready.

[Prashun Patel]

A couple things that reduce scallops for me:

Take lighter passes when you get close to depth
Wax the table and keep it clean in between passes

Handplane is yr best bet for finishing - which always has to be done. If sanding, when everything's sharp and tuned, I can usually begin sanding at 120-150.

[Brett Robson]

When I had straight knives in my planer, I would run the material back through the planer a couple of times after I reached the desired thickness. This technique was effective in planing off most of the scallops.

[Derek Gilmer]

I'm just getting into hand work but a scraper is great for finishing to me. And it is faster than sanding after a little practice.

[Jeff Duncan]

Finished surface is such a loose term. For some guys it's a hand scraped surface, for others it's sanding to 220 grit, it really depends on what you desire and also on what the end finish will be. The main thing to remember is anything that you use to 'change' the size or shape of the wood will leave marks. Some more so than others, but even hand tools will leave marks, it's a question of whether or not those marks are acceptable to what you want in your finished surface.

What I can tell you is what works for me. Most of my stuff gets run through an SCMI 520 4 knife planer which leaves a very nice surface. Then through the wide belt with 150 grit as the final pass. From there it depends on the finish. For a clear finish on most woods I'll sand it out with a ROS at 120 grit then finish with a hand block. For a stained surface I go with 120 then 150 grit on the ROS and finish a little more carefully with a hand block. Yes you need to finish with a hand block because even the best ROS will leave swirl marks. And in a stained finish they can become quite unsightly.... DAMHIK. If your planer is leaving deeper scallops for whatever reason than you just need to drop you first grit down a bit....say 100 or 80 at worst. For the final pass 150 grit is the highest I generally will go to. I could see sanding higher for certain pieces like fine inlaid table tops or cigar humidors, but that's not what I do;)

hope this helps,
JeffD