Running a board on edge through a thickness planer to joint one edge?

[Dave Kirby]

Hello everyone. I just got my first thickness planer (DeWalt DW735) and I was wondering about something I saw. Is it ok to run a board through a planer on edge in order to joint one edge? I saw a video where a guy did this and it actually looked like it went through just fine and came out nice as well, but is this a bad practice to get into? Can this damage a planer? My planer manual recommends not to run anything less than 3/4" wide unless you group pieces together to widen the planing surface. I didn't see anything in the manual about running a board on edge specifically, so I was just wondering if this is ok to do? I'd love any advice I could get. Looking forward to processing my own lumber for a change! :)

[Roy Harding]

Listen to your manual. Gang a few pieces together (which will only work if they are all already the same width).

[Steven Lee, NC]

maybe something fairly short where both ends of the board are already same width but I just don't see it working for long boards. Also there is no fence to make sure the boards is perpendicular to the cutter head

[Jerry Miner]

I often run boards on edge through the planer--but not as a jointing process. I joint first, saw to rough width, then plane (on edge) to finish width. I don't usually do anything wider than 2" or so. 3/4 material in that width range is not a problem, but you have to start with a straight and square edge.

[Frank Drew]

What Jerry said; you need one straight edge (down) in order for the newly planed edge (up) also to be straight. Cleanly planed isn't the same as cleanly planed and straight.

[Victor Robinson]

Like others have said, you need a straight edge down in order to plane the other edge parallel. So you must have already produced a straight edge on the board, either using a jointer or a handplane or the appropriate technique on a tablesaw or router table.

If you want to joint an edge using a planer (i.e., you don't already have the opposite edge jointed straight), you'd have to use a sled, just as you would use a sled when jointing a face using a planer. Planer sleds incorporate some form of support under the unflat parts of the board so that the board does not deform under the pressure of the feed rollers and the top face or edge of the board is planed flat.

[Mike Cutler]

I wouldn't do it, not that it can't be done by cobbling together a jig,but there are better, and easier ways.
Two pieces of plywood, or MDF, and some aluminum L stock, and you can make a straight edge, zero clearance, guide for any circular saw to accomplish an initial jointed edge.
A planer is a planer. It's basic job is too make two faces parallel, and uniform in thickness.

[Rich Engelhardt]

(Blades have a finite life.)
There are plenty of plans available to make a jig to allow you to "edge joint" with a planer.
The problem is - the jigs force the planer to se the same small portion of the blades.
Did I mention that blades have a finite life? ;)

Bottom line here is that by solving one problem, you create another larger problem.
Yes - you can "edge joint" w/the planer and a jig - but, at the cost of your planer now being able to put a nice smooth even face on something.

FWIW - prior to buying my 6" jointer, I'd investigated alternative methods. I came away with the impression that using the planer and a jig wasn't all that great of an idea.
In all fairness I have to add - my Planer is a DeWalt 734 and the blades for it are all kinds of crazy expensive and can't be sharpened.

[Harvey Melvin Richards]

Many years ago a William Lego had an article in Fine Woodworking about building a base and edge planing guides for lunch box planers. I built the base and guides for my Ryobi AP-10 and while the base has been used a ton, I really can't remember the last time I used the guides. There are easier ways to get the desired results.

The guides attach to the right side of the table and there are feather boards that hold the part against the guide (a long "L" bracket).

http://i811.photobucket.com/albums/zz35/HarveyMelvinRichards/P3101369Large.jpg (http://s811.photobucket.com/user/HarveyMelvinRichards/media/P3101369Large.jpg.html)

[dan sherman]

As others have said, betters ways exist to joint and edge strait. If you have one edge strait and you want to bring the other parallel to it, then yes this is a method you can use. I do it a lot personally, as long as the width of the board isn't more than say 5 times it's thickness. I have found this method to work really well when I need to hold really tight dimensions, or when I'm working with woods that burn easily.

[glenn bradley]

I would use a tablesaw or router table first but, if you absolutely had to:

274123

The reliability of the joint depends on your ability to keep the angle perfectly at 90*. As mentioned there are a lot of other ways to do this that are more reliable.

[Mel Fulks]

This is often done in commercial shops with a set up similar to Glenn's photo. Different sized fences with a cutout to go over the bottom rollers are stored vertically near the planer, when they are clamped in place on a slight angle the material is kept perfectly vertical .Several pieces can be fed at one time. Since this is usually done with newly planed and ripped wood ,wear on knives is not an issue unless feed rate is set too slow.

[Brad Cambell]

Bad idea. If you have a decent table saw and "GOOD" saw blade that's all you need, unless you have a jointer.

[Sam Murdoch]

The reliability of the joint depends on your ability to keep the angle perfectly at 90*. As mentioned there are a lot of other ways to do this that are more reliable.

And as others have written, one edge needs to be straight. I rarely run one board this way because of the issue of keeping it square to the table - they do want to roll and that can be :eek:, BUT, I do this very often when running a bunch of stock that needs to finish off exactly at the same width - face frames, door parts, drawer parts etc. I prefer ganging up no less than 3 boards and will do 7 or 8 or more if I can handle them without contortions. No limit to the length or height but I use my judgement and sometimes a guide as Glenn illustrates, and my thickness planer is set up so that the tables align properly and there is no (or very minimal) snipe at either end.

[dan sherman]

The reliability of the joint depends on your ability to keep the angle perfectly at 90*. As mentioned there are a lot of other ways to do this that are more reliable.


And as others have written, one edge needs to be straight.

I'm sorry, but I must disagree with this. The angle doesn't need to be exactly 90 degrees, it needs to be complimentary to the angle of the adjacent board. The two angles need to add up to 180 degrees, thus if one is 90.1 the other needs to be 89.9. I "match plane" boards when the joint must be tight and the panel must be absolutely flat, it can be done by hand or with power tools.

check out Bob Rozaieski's video on "match planing"
http://logancabinetshoppe.com/blog/2010/10/episode-28/

[Sam Murdoch]

I'm sorry, but I must disagree with this. The angle doesn't need to be exactly 90 degrees, it needs to be complimentary to the angle of the adjacent board. The two angles need to add up to 180 degrees, thus if one is 90.1 the other needs to be 89.9. I "match plane" boards when the joint must be tight and the panel must be absolutely flat, it can be done by hand or with power tools.

check out Bob Rozaieski's video on "match planing"
http://logancabinetshoppe.com/blog/2010/10/episode-28/

The point that I was making and I think Glenn too (though I hope I am not misrepresenting him) was that if you want your board to end up with parallel edges - and usually for most woodworking applications the edge is maintained at 90° - the board must be kept perpendicular to the table and at right angles to the cutter head or you will end up with less than satisfactory results.

When I do this it is typically the last of my lumber prep procedures. To the best of my abilities and capabilities I have already jointed the faces and thicknessed my stock through the planer, have jointed one edge of each board, and have ripped the opposite edge through the TS or band saw to within an 1/8" or less of my finished dimension. The last pass or 2 to the exact dimension will be through the thickness planer at as close to 90° as I can achieve with my equipment and abilities. Works for me.

[Frank Drew]

I'm sorry, but I must disagree with this. The angle doesn't need to be exactly 90 degrees, it needs to be complimentary to the angle of the adjacent board.

The edge straightness that Sam and some others advise is in the board's length, but you're right about the squareness (or not) of two edges to be mated by match planing.

[Loren Woirhaye]

Oh, I do it. Great way to bring face frame parts and furniture components to final width. I prefer sanding out planer marks to sanding out saw marks, which I have found always occur on significant runs on the table saw. I confess I seldom use feather boards when ripping to width.

A lot of pro face frame shops rely on edge sanders a lot. They rip stock and sand out the marks. Some seldom or never use a jointer.