DW735 and "tear out"

[Michael Alu]

I recently purchased a DW735 planer with the two extension tables from a hobbyist woodworker. Once I got it back to my place I took the time and cleaned everything up. I waxed the bed and extension tables. I adjusted the extension tables to have a slight camber using the penny method. I replaced the original knives with brand new ones. Now for the results. I have no washboard effect, but on some test southern yellow pine scrap pieces I am having "tear out" or small random gouges in the wood. This happens no matter which way I orientate the grain pattern.

Any of you Creekers have had this happen before and possibly know of way to eliminate this? Or is this normal and have to deal with with a planer. This is my first planer by the way.

Thanks guys

[Prashun Patel]

Show us a picture.

I've had "small random gouge" syndrome with that planer and even with my current spiral head Hammer. Are you using dust collection with it?The DW735 has a wonderful fan that ejects the chips pretty well. However, planers are really designed to be used with assisted dust collection. If chips are not aggressively evacuated from the surface it can cause divots and little craters that look like tear out. If you cannot have dust collection, this symptom can be alleviated by extremely shallow passes and using the slow speed setting.

[Mike Ontko]

I've been running some dry CVG Douglas fir through my DW735 recently with what sounds like similar results. I've found that reducing the amount of material removed, down to as little as just 1/64th, can help. Some boards seem to be more prone to this than others, so I'd chalk part of this issue up to grain orientation (i.e., the nature of the beast).

One thing you could try is to use the finishing speed as part of a final pass through your DW735. I haven't tried this myself yet, but it seems like it might offer a possible solution.

What I have been doing though, to remove any traces of grain tearout after planning, is to either sand the surface lightly or use a cabinet scraper.

[lowell holmes]

Try spraying the wood with a water mist prior to planing.

[Brian Tymchak]

Lots of good history documented wrt this planer so I doubt there is anything about the planer itself.

Tearout - could be lots of things coming into play. How much of a cut are you taking each pass? Have you tried the finishing speed? Could be that your test pieces have reversing grain that's going to tear out regardless of the direction you feed it? From my limited experience with SYP, seems like it can be a little brittle and that could lead to easy tear out.

You mention "small random gouges". that's interesting. I read (here on the Creek I believe) that some replacement blades are thicker and don't need the stock metal retainer to hold the blade down. This results in the screws actually contacting the wood surface.

[Michael Alu]

Lots of good history documented wrt this planer so I doubt there is anything about the planer itself.

Tearout - could be lots of things coming into play. How much of a cut are you taking each pass? Have you tried the finishing speed? Could be that your test pieces have reversing grain that's going to tear out regardless of the direction you feed it? From my limited experience with SYP, seems like it can be a little brittle and that could lead to easy tear out.

You mention "small random gouges". that's interesting. I read (here on the Creek I believe) that some replacement blades are thicker and don't need the stock metal retainer to hold the blade down. This results in the screws actually contacting the wood surface.

I haven't seen that, but I do have some pictures of the "small random gouges." I will post them up here in a little bit. It would give people a better idea of what I'm seeing. I will look into this topic. Thanks Brian.

[Michael Alu]

Show us a picture.

I've had "small random gouge" syndrome with that planer and even with my current spiral head Hammer. Are you using dust collection with it?The DW735 has a wonderful fan that ejects the chips pretty well. However, planers are really designed to be used with assisted dust collection. If chips are not aggressively evacuated from the surface it can cause divots and little craters that look like tear out. If you cannot have dust collection, this symptom can be alleviated by extremely shallow passes and using the slow speed setting.


330317 Here is a picture of the "small random gouges." The fan was piped into a shop vac, but I did not have the shop vac on. I am currently working on my dust deputy DC cart and will have the ready to hook up to this planer this weekend.

[Prashun Patel]

i believe better dc will help that. its not tearout.

[Michael Alu]

i believe better dc will help that. its not tearout.

Thanks Prashun. I'll report back once I've hooked it up to my dust deputy system and let you know the results. Other than little problem I have basically no snipe from this planer. I love this thing.

[Brian Tymchak]

i believe better dc will help that. its not tearout.

I agree with Prashun. Shop vacs (~150 cfm) don't pull the volume of air needed to keep the heavier chips airborne as well as a dust collection system (~1000 cfm) would. I have a 1200 cfm dust collection system and I still get an occasional divot from a chip that got "steam rolled" into the surface of the board if I'm taking heavier cuts.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

I do not usually see this, but, I did recently on a board. I was running six boards, and this one board kept doing that.


Try spraying the wood with a water mist prior to planing.

If I see this again, I will try this.

This just does not happen that often for me. When it did, the board was just a bit off. I am not sure how to describe it. The board was really really hard, but, there were a few odd splits, a soft spot on one end, and some really complicated grain in places.

[Charles P. Wright]

The fan was piped into a shop vac, but I did not have the shop vac on. I am currently working on my dust deputy DC cart and will have the ready to hook up to this planer this weekend.
If I understood this correctly you had the hose from the shop vac connected to the planer; but the shop vac was not turned on. If so, I would certainly leave the shop vac disconnected if it is not on, otherwise the fan will try to eject the chips into the hose, and it will clog nearly instantaneously.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Staring more at your picture..... Does it help if you send the board in the other direction? Are you running this with, or against the grain?

[David Utterback]

I have this planer and find that chips often stick to the rollers and make depressions in the planed surfaces. Although you gave it a thorough cleaning, this may be a greater problem with more resinous woods such as SYP.