Question about Planer for Small Parts (Coasters)

[Mikah Barnett]

I have a fairly large CO2 laser that I use in my "normal" business that my wife is going to start using to make custom wooden coasters to sell. Just so happens we have had both a Hickory tree and a Hackberry tree - both large - fall on our property in the last year or so so we've got PLENTY of raw material laying around!

Anyway, we're band-sawing the coasters (4 to 4 1/2" diameter) right now and while the saw cuts them okay, the discs are rarely both flat and parallel, sometimes neither. I will probably build a custom clamp/slide assembly for the bandsaw at some point, but am wondering in the mean time if I could use a small planer to make them better.

But it seems the infeed/outfeed rollers on the two small planers I've looked at (Porter Cable and DeWalt) are roughly 6" center to center. So, feeding a 4" coaster through there would require some manual pushing. Will manually feeding discs through a planer work okay? With no roller pushing the part down into the bed, will there be a tendency for the part to lift and cause gouging or other marks in the part?

I've used a planer years ago but not recently and not on a workpiece so small. I considered a belt-sander instead, but I think it would be easy to get one flat side still no closer to parallel with the other side. They obviously don't have to be perfect, but a coaster only has one job to do and we want to make sure every one that leaves here does it well!

EDIT: Also I guess I'm unsure as to how well a planer will plan right on the endgrain. That may be another issue.

[Ed Aumiller]

Most planers, even the small lunch box style, cannot do stock that small... also when cutting endgrain, it is very dangerous as it will catch & literally explode...

Your best bet I think is a drum sander.... use a sled if needed to hold it flat until you get one side flat, then flip it and do other side.. take light cuts on each pass..

[Myk Rian]

Using a planer will not work. DAMHIK
Maybe a tuneup on the band saw to get it cutting correctly.

[Troy Turner]

Drum sander sounds like your best bet. If you don't have one, check around cabinet makers and see if they have one and will allow you to use it. You'll probably get better results and be safer in the end.

[M Toupin]

Since you say "the discs are rarely both flat and parallel, sometimes neither" can we assume you're band sawing your disks from the rough lumber? If that's the case then you need to plane you're boards it to an even thickness fist then cut the disks.

Mike

[Earl Rumans]

I agree you need to joint and plane your rough stock. Once you have all sides square and parallel then you can use your table saw and cut the individual pieces and have nice flat square stock to make your coasters.

[Nathan Callender]

I think he's cutting coasters from a small log across the grain. I that's the case, I wouldn't dare run it through a planer. Even a drum sander may not work, but you migh consider a belt sander of some sort. But, I'd first try to get the bandsaw set up so it cuts the pieces correctly to begin with.

[Bill Huber]

Like has been stated a planer is not the tool for this job.

I would first work on the band saw and get it cutting the best it could.

The use a drum sander, I have made coasters out of cut off of different woods, both end grain and long grain.
The coasters have a 4" diameter and I have no problem running them though my Jet 10-20 drum sander.

[Mikah Barnett]

Thanks guys for the input. Did a lot more research last night and basically arrived at the conclusions here: planer would be exciting but not workable, drum sander would probably work but in the end is just compensating for cutting it poorly in the first place.

Yes, we're cutting rough limbs across the grain (picture attached of some prototypes). Trouble is every time I "index" the log into the saw for a new cut, the log is resting on a new surface which is ever-changing.

So, I'm on today to designing a log-holding crosscut sled. I think that gets me most of what I need - more parallel faces and hopefully the ability to put a log (okay - branch) in there once and make many cuts without re-clamping it.

I will post back when I have some sketches together of the sled, but that part seems simple enough. Thanks again for the help, and I'm so glad I did not buy that little planer yesterday (the sales guy was certain it would be just the ticket for this project!).