Planing - Bowing Question

[Brent Romero]

Today I planed some 1" x 12" cypress boards that had a slight cup in them. I put the crown up for the first few passes in an attempt to flatten that side of the board before planning the opposite side. I noticed afterward that the crown was still there.

Was my technique correct? Crown up?

[Matt Mackinnon]

it's very hard to flatten a board with just a planer. As there are rollers that will force the wood flat when it's feeding the boards through. That is why you generally need a jointer as well. As you feed the board along a long flat surface with the cutter below, (rather than above with a planer), you can properly flatten a single face properly. Then go to the planer to cut the other face parallel to the first.

[Kevin Bourque]

The planer rollers will flatten out the board before it gets to the knives, so your technique probably won't work very well.
You could use a jointer or a hand held planer to remove the cup before planing.