Electric Planer questions

[Kevin Dixon]

Hey all, i've done some searching for info and came up short. I'm building a top for a breakfast bar. I'm going to use 3 1"x6" oak boards i got from a lumber yard. I have a biscuit joiner to put everything together. To make everything even, i bought the electric planer. There is one board that is bowed a bit. Should i glue and get everything as matched up as possible then plane the high areas at the seams? I've never done anything like this. Any and all info will help. Oh, its a 3 1/4" planer.

[Matt Day]

You're not going to be able to edge joint boards that long with a hand-held electric planer like you have. you can try and get close, but things likely are not going to align properly.

Ideally you would use a jointer to joint One face and one edge of the board, and a stationary planer to make the other face parallel. And a tablesaw to make the other edge parallel.This gives you a square board.

Do some searching on the site to find out more in detail about what a jointer and planer are and how to mill rough lumber. I think something like this comes up about every couple of weeks.

I suggest you try to track down a friend that is a woodworker that might have a jointer and planer you could use.

[Chris Padilla]

You might consider heading back to that lumber yard to either get straighter wood and/or return what you have.

Just to be sure, how has the wood moved? You said bowed so I'm just checking. If bowed, you can use biscuits to get it into alignment with another straight board as long as you're careful when you cut the biscuit slots: i.e. make sure to clamp the board flat to your bench and then cut the biscuit slots.