Phil Thien
04-23-2015, 11:33 AM
The topic of using a planer as a substitute for a jointer comes up from time to time.
God this is going to be long, sorry.
So from time to time I visit a hardwoods supplier named Kettle Moraine Hardwoods. They have a bunch of rough-sawn lumber and offer, as a service, planing of said lumber for a few cents per board foot. Now, I see professionals at Kettle Moraine from time to time, and they always take the planing service.
I E-Mailed the owner of KM Hardwoods once, and asked if they face joint the stock first, to get one side flat. His answer was "no." He said if the board wasn't flat to start with, the planed boards also wouldn't be flat. Which didn't make sense, why would the "pros" be asking for a service that would deliver wavy wood? It isn't as if the boards (in the rough) are perfectly flat.
Now, I have a planer (Dewalt DW734) and a planer sled and I've had good luck getting flat stock using the sled. I have a small jointer but for anything over 6" wide, or anything sorta spendy, I tend to use the planer sled because the results are very consistently good. Technique doesn't enter into it.
But I've always wondered about the process of planing a board w/o face jointing it. The conventional wisdom is that the planer simply makes the two surfaces parallel. And thinking about how a planer works, that makes perfect sense. The idea is that pressure/feed rollers flatten a board on the way through, but that it "springs" back to its cup/warp/twist after being planed.
But thinking about it more, you realize that the pressure/feed rollers can't apply unlimited pressure. They can't push so hard that the boards won't move through the planer. So it would seem that for each pass through a planer, the board may actually become more flat.
So with my most recent acquisition of wood (the bug-holed red oak), I thought I'd try planing in the rough, both sides. Cup and all. The boards are a strong 4/4 in the rough, with maybe 1/16" cup across the width, and maybe 3/16" to 1/4" bow along about six feet (the length of a couple I tried).
One of them had some twist, too.
And after planing them down to 3/4" I can honestly say they're very usable. About what I'd expect if I ordered S4S from a yard. I've ordered S4S stock and it has rarely been perfectly straight, there is always some bow to it. Maybe a little better than what I'm seeing but maybe not, either. I'm not going to tell you they are straight-edge flat, but that 3/16" to 1/4" cup may be only 1/32" or 1/16" (and 1/16" is a stretch) now. If cut into shorter pieces, deviation from flat becomes pretty insignificant.
I imagine the larger industrial planers are better at this because I don't think they apply as much downward force when they plane, I think the serrated rollers are able to push a board forward with less downward force, compared to my little lunchbox planer. (Maybe not, Robert says no below).
This morning I took one of these boards from 3/4" down to 1/2" and when I was done I felt the stock was about what I'd expect had I jointed and then planed it.
So I'm going to experiment with this more but I just think it is sort of interesting, and thought I'd share my observations.
God this is going to be long, sorry.
So from time to time I visit a hardwoods supplier named Kettle Moraine Hardwoods. They have a bunch of rough-sawn lumber and offer, as a service, planing of said lumber for a few cents per board foot. Now, I see professionals at Kettle Moraine from time to time, and they always take the planing service.
I E-Mailed the owner of KM Hardwoods once, and asked if they face joint the stock first, to get one side flat. His answer was "no." He said if the board wasn't flat to start with, the planed boards also wouldn't be flat. Which didn't make sense, why would the "pros" be asking for a service that would deliver wavy wood? It isn't as if the boards (in the rough) are perfectly flat.
Now, I have a planer (Dewalt DW734) and a planer sled and I've had good luck getting flat stock using the sled. I have a small jointer but for anything over 6" wide, or anything sorta spendy, I tend to use the planer sled because the results are very consistently good. Technique doesn't enter into it.
But I've always wondered about the process of planing a board w/o face jointing it. The conventional wisdom is that the planer simply makes the two surfaces parallel. And thinking about how a planer works, that makes perfect sense. The idea is that pressure/feed rollers flatten a board on the way through, but that it "springs" back to its cup/warp/twist after being planed.
But thinking about it more, you realize that the pressure/feed rollers can't apply unlimited pressure. They can't push so hard that the boards won't move through the planer. So it would seem that for each pass through a planer, the board may actually become more flat.
So with my most recent acquisition of wood (the bug-holed red oak), I thought I'd try planing in the rough, both sides. Cup and all. The boards are a strong 4/4 in the rough, with maybe 1/16" cup across the width, and maybe 3/16" to 1/4" bow along about six feet (the length of a couple I tried).
One of them had some twist, too.
And after planing them down to 3/4" I can honestly say they're very usable. About what I'd expect if I ordered S4S from a yard. I've ordered S4S stock and it has rarely been perfectly straight, there is always some bow to it. Maybe a little better than what I'm seeing but maybe not, either. I'm not going to tell you they are straight-edge flat, but that 3/16" to 1/4" cup may be only 1/32" or 1/16" (and 1/16" is a stretch) now. If cut into shorter pieces, deviation from flat becomes pretty insignificant.
I imagine the larger industrial planers are better at this because I don't think they apply as much downward force when they plane, I think the serrated rollers are able to push a board forward with less downward force, compared to my little lunchbox planer. (Maybe not, Robert says no below).
This morning I took one of these boards from 3/4" down to 1/2" and when I was done I felt the stock was about what I'd expect had I jointed and then planed it.
So I'm going to experiment with this more but I just think it is sort of interesting, and thought I'd share my observations.