Planer kickback

[Dave Zellers]

Anybody ever experienced it? Me either.

Until today.

Happily working in one of the many North Pole annexes today, easing Santa's load by making a couple simple gifts. I re-saw a piece of 3/4" X 5" X 16" maple in half. Since this Santa's annex isn't blessed with a $2500 ass-kicking band saw, the result from my Delta 14" is one piece noticeably thicker than the other and uneven. No problem since the thinner piece is plenty thick as I head to the planer. I set it for the thicker piece and run that through. Then I decide to run the thinner piece through in case part of it is the same as the thicker piece. As I slowly feed it in, the front roller is too high to grab it and the cutter starts chewing on the end violently. Any one of Santa's smarter elves would have stopped pushing and pulled it out. (as I've done before). Instead I think it's close enough that the rear roller will take control once it gets that far. I was wrong. The cutter took a big bite and overwhelmed my right hand and threw it back into my left hand with enough force that my thumb, index finger and second finger went numb instantly. And stayed that way for the ten minutes I performed the shop dance.

You know what I'm talking about. My shop is 'L' shaped and for 10 minutes, after I checked for blood, (none) and finger movement, (all fingers moving, but already swollen) I paced back and forth around the 'L' unable to stop except for a brief pose at the wood stove since the shop was cold and the stove fire was new. My hand was numb, swelling and really cold, the stove felt good, BUT- I gotta dance! Back to pacing back and forth. And forth and back.

5 hours later (as I type) I'm fine with a pretty pudgy index finger. I'll probably have a pretty colorful digit, perfectly timed for the Big Day. Not at all above showing the purple and green finger when they exclaim, "Ooh! did you make this?" :D

Although I have a powerful 15" planer, this happened on my Delta 12" planer (I think it's the first generation). Wow- didn't see that coming, but should have.

[Charles Coolidge]

Glad you are okay, kind of surprised I don't think anything could get past the 150 kickback pawls on my 15 planer...unless it was adjusted too high to engage them which may be the case here I don't know. Count yourself lucky and don't do dat again.

[Dave Zellers]

Count yourself lucky and don't do dat again.
I do and I won't.

No pawls- just a urethane roller. Lesson learned.

[John TenEyck]

Glad your injury wasn't any more severe. I had that happen on my Foley Belsaw planer which has rubber drive rollers when I did just about the same thing you did. It caught the thinner piece and shot it back out of the machine very much like kickback on a table saw. Fortunately, I wasn't holding the stock. I only feed one piece at a time now.

John

[Rick Alexander]

Haven't had the planer do it yet but I must admit I have fed boards in that really were a little too thin for the cut. I'll have to keep in mind your experience next time but mine has pawls that won't let you fix your error by pulling it out. Hopefully that'll prevent it from mine. I do have a 24 inch dual drum grizzly sander that'll launch one every now and then - enough that I know for sure not to ever stand in the line of fire of that puppy. Odd looking sight to see a 16 inch wide panel flying flat across the room I can tell you.

I also did your shop dance a few weeks ago after I let a short board fly off a tenon jig on my table saw while setting it up. I guess I didn't tightened it enough before moving forward to check the measure and it sent it directly into my big fat belly. It left an impression there on my belly that I could have used my tape measure to check the setting and not even had the board in hand. I haven't got hit with a kickback since I was about 15 years old but the momory came flooding back while dancing around the shop for a good while. I think I'll not be trying that one again as well.

I guess we all need to hear these stories every now and then to remind us. Easy to get distracted this time of year too with all the rush to get things done.

[Brian Tymchak]

Haven't had the planer do it yet but I must admit I have fed boards in that really were a little too thin for the cut. I'll have to keep in mind your experience next time but mine has pawls that won't let you fix your error by pulling it out.


+1. Dave. thanks for the post. When I ready your story, I had one of those "doh" minutes realizing that of course that could be dangerous. I guess I might have been lucky when I did the exact same thing when I resawed some Ash for my workbench project. Had a pretty rough cut off the bandsaw. Never thought about it possibly kicking back when I planed it. But I will from now on.. Thanks again for the awareness.

[Prashun Patel]

Glad you're ok. I have had the same kind of kickback. I've had 1/4" laminations torpedo out of the front. For that reason, I stand to the side now. It's for this very reason that I'm constantly scouting for a drum sander.

[Jeff Duncan]

If you are in said situation again, simply lift up the end of the stock your holding. By doing so you create a lever that forces the stock against the infeed roller and the leading edge into the table. This will allow you to control the stock until it reaches the out feed roller. As someone who planes thousands of bd. ft. a year, I send plenty through the machine that has high/low spots, that's just part of the process. It's knowing how to control your stock and more importantly how to do it safely that's the key. NEVER stand behind a planer when feeding stock through. When your feeding you should not have anything behind the workpiece, including your hand.

I truly believe most shop accidents are caused by improper technique. I teach anyone who works in my shop a very simple and basic rule…..look at what your doing and think about what's going to happen when it goes wrong. Whether it's a planer, or a table saw, or a router etc etc.. If you look at what your doing it's pretty easy to envision where a piece is most likely going to want to go when something bad happens. Stay clear of that area and your risk of injury is exponentially reduced;)

OH and BTW….yes, I'm very familiar with the "shop dance" :o

good luck,
JeffD

[Dave Zellers]

If you are in said situation again, simply lift up the end of the stock your holding. By doing so you create a lever that forces the stock against the infeed roller and the leading edge into the table. This will allow you to control the stock until it reaches the out feed roller. ...When your feeding you should not have anything behind the workpiece, including your hand.
Good tip about lifting and using the roller as a fulcrum but I'm not clear on how to do that without my hand behind the workpiece.

[glenn bradley]

BTDT. Same cause; setting was too high for the (2nd piece of) stock I fed. Thanks for the reminder to be always diligent. Glad you weren't hurt worse.

[whit richardson]

Over the decades I'm always thankful I started out as a blue collar guy working in shops doing plate stamping, spot welding, sheet metal cutting and finally as machinist in a large turbine factory. My best foreman and shop stewards made Safety First a shop work mantra. Not that I can't look at my hands and fingers and find the scars or ridges from a few slices here and there. Later coming to woodworking at home I am always thinking of how this next nifty machine can hurt me and how i can stay safe. Still had a chunk of mahogany fly back and slam my forearm once. Kept nearby in place of a safety sign. ;-)
I read a few tip articles about planing thin stock that talked about using a backer piece with the thin piece on top. Something like putting sandpaper or double-sided tape to hold the thin piece on the backer board while feeding it into the planer. This sounds like a safe way to keep the rollers engaged whilst shaving a bit more off a thin board.
I've also adopted the holding the feed side of the board up a little to improve the cut and limit tear out too. While standing to the side a bit.

[Ellen Benkin]

Yes, I've had a kickback on an industrial size planer. Luckily I was standing to the side. Safety lessons at school include the warning not to look into or reach into a planer. It doesn't happen often but when it does it is something you will not forget. Glad you are OK.

[Jeff Duncan]

Good tip about lifting and using the roller as a fulcrum but I'm not clear on how to do that without my hand behind the workpiece.

When your feeding the planer get used to holding the board by it's edge, similar to how you'd hold a railing. By the time your thinking about moving your hand to the end of the board instead go to the out feed and wait for it to finish. That's how you keep your hands out of harms way….or at least a bit safer;)

JeffD

[Brian Kincaid]

Thank you for the safety warning!
-Brian