Planing thin stock

[Scott Welty]

At times I need to plane some stock down to less than 1/4 inch. Typically I double stick the stock to a carrier board (3/4 ply for example). This works ok but now wondering why not just build a 'fixed carrier board' mounted through the planer itself. If this bed, perhaps made of MDF with melamine finish, was fixed to the table I could plane to thin dimensions. All I lose is 3/4" of height on planer but never put giant, thick stock through there anyway. If I get a Wixey I assume I could then zero it to this new planer base.

Has anyone done this?
Talk me out of it?

Scott Welty

[Walter Plummer]

We made ours out of a piece of 1" MDF. Add a block to the end to keep it from being drawn into the planer and you are set. It works well most of the time but some strips just don't want to stay down. Good luck.

[Derek Cohen]

Scott, I have been planning on doing the very same. It would be less complicated if the carrier was a specific thickness, say 100mm (if working from metric), which made calculations easy. I have a Hammer A3-31 with the digital dial indicator, and would not wish to re-calibrate (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0Mu85f7qQs) this each time.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Jim Becker]

Aside from the material support already being discussed, it's important to note that one cannot forget the effect of the feed roller design of a particular planer when you start trying to take very thin passes and/or get to really thin material. Many non-suitcase planers have serrated feed rollers that tend to leave a small mark if the pass isn't deep enough to trim them off. Planning really thin stock gives a small advantage to the more portable machines that tend to use smooth "rubber" feed rollers. Of course, having a drum sander to do finish passes can help with this, too.

[Darcy Warner]

I have planed down to just under an 1/8" on my 30" buss.
The feed rolls get into the bed rolls at that point though.

[Scott Welty]

Feed roll/bed roll....help me.
Scott

[Mike Ontko]

We made ours out of a piece of 1" MDF. Add a block to the end to keep it from being drawn into the planer and you are set. It works well most of the time but some strips just don't want to stay down. Good luck.

+1 I've been doing this for a while with a DW735 and have had pretty good results getting both CVG Douglas fir and ash down to about 3/32". Using an auxiliary bed like this (mine was made from 3/4" melamine shelf stock) without any type of hold-down (double sided tape or some kind of side clamp) still leaves the possibility for catching or even shredding the ends of each piece depending on the wood type and any amount of cupping or bowing present. If you plan ahead for this by adding a few extra inches of length to each piece, similar to what you would do for snipe, then you can simply trim off any of that damage.

One particular point of emphasis though - make sure your planer blades are sharp.

[Edwin Santos]

+1 I've been doing this for a while with a DW735 and have had pretty good results getting both CVG Douglas fir and ash down to about 3/32". Using an auxiliary bed like this (mine was made from 3/4" melamine shelf stock) without any type of hold-down (double sided tape or some kind of side clamp) still leaves the possibility for catching or even shredding the ends of each piece depending on the wood type and any amount of cupping or bowing present. If you plan ahead for this by adding a few extra inches of length to each piece, similar to what you would do for snipe, then you can simply trim off any of that damage.

One particular point of emphasis though - make sure your planer blades are sharp.

Add to this good advice, pay really close attention to grain direction and plane with it. If you plane a thin veneer against the grain, or if the sheet has any wild grain, you could end up taking a trip to shred city.

If your material is thin enough to be flexible, try this - as you feed the thin wood into the planer, hold it high as though you're going down a slope toward the planer bed. This will force the leading edge down as it enters the planer bed/planer board and it will resist popping up into the knives and getting destroyed.

Below is a link to a very novel method shown in FWW not long ago which I am intending to try:

https://www.finewoodworking.com/2016/09/29/plane-shopsawn-veneers-perfectly-smooth

Hope his helps you,
Edwin

[Rod Sheridan]

Feed roll/bed roll....help me.
Scott

Hi Scott, the feed roller is the powered roller above the planer bed that grips the work piece and feeds it through the planer.

A bed roller is a roller in the planer bed that is just barely above the surface of the bed. It is used for rough or wet timbers, it reduce the frictional losses so the feed roller can feed the work through the planer. Many planers do not have bed rollers as they can cause other problems if they can't be lowered below the bed when not needed......Regards, Rod.

[Darcy Warner]

Hi Scott, the feed roller is the powered roller above the planer bed that grips the work piece and feeds it through the planer.

A bed roller is a roller in the planer bed that is just barely above the surface of the bed. It is used for rough or wet timbers, it reduce the frictional losses so the feed roller can feed the work through the planer. Many planers do not have bed rollers as they can cause other problems if they can't be lowered below the bed when not needed......Regards, Rod.

Thank goodness for the powered quick adjust feed rolls on all my buss's. If the planer is set up right, I have no issues with leaving the rolls up a couple thou an achieving good results. The center bed section is higher than the in an outfeed.

[Aaron Rosenthal]

I've done it with my DeWalt, and generally, I've been happy. There's even a podcast on Wood Whisperer about planing thin stock. But ......
Nowadays, I've built a bench hook with a thin stop a la Rob Cosman and I've just hand planed a bunch of thin maple I'm working upon for a specialty box system. It's faster and safer than working the machinery.

[Robert Engel]

Scott,

I have tried the double back tape technique with not-so-good results on my planer (Grizzly 20" standard knives).

I think its a planer-specific because apparently some can get by with it. If the feed rollers on your planer are close enough to the cutter head this is why it may work on a lunchbox but not on big planer like mine.

The issue is any flexing or grain catching results in catastrophe. Also, grain direction is critical and depending on species often not easily discerned in thin boards. If the grain direction is wrong, or if the knives encounters wild or contrary contrary grain, that's when the explosion occurs and bits of wood go flying out.

I think helical head will also be a huge advantage.

I would use the double back tape to minimize any lifting effect.

Truthfully, if you're doing a lot of this type work or especially making veneer, a drum sander is a must if its in the budget. I use a sled with adhesive sandpaper as my sander will not go past 1/4".

[John Redford]

I have the same issue with “keys” for mitre boxes. My thin kerf blade is .09” and I use the table saw to get close (larger) and hand sand to get to the desired thickness. It take a lot of time.

Is there a faster way I’m not thinking of?