Plywood and my Planer

[Jason Christenson]

I'm planning a plywood project and I have a question. I'll be going for the look of the desk in the blog post that I'm going to link to. My question is this: Once I get the panels glued up and flattened on one side can I run them through my planer to get them to final thickness or will that ruin my blades? Thanks in advance.


http://www.sarahsbigidea.com/2014/02/plywood-gets-sexy/

[Mel Fulks]

It will certainly dull and damage steel knives. If your planer has carbide knives it will be ok. But I think you really need
a wide belt sander, and it won't be cheap to pay someone to do it. There are other novelty type ideas ,I would look at
some.

[Frank Pratt]

I ran about 4' of plywood edge over my jointer & it serrated the edge of the knives. Way more than can be removed by honing; they needed to be sent out for sharpening. So no, I wouldn't try it without carbide cutters.

If you like that linear layered look, check out bamboo ply. It has a similar contemporary appearance, but doesn't have the cheap look that plywood edge grain has. It's also very hard & durable. Much easier & faster too.

[Jamie Buxton]

Don't have access to a wide-belt sander? Not many of us do. But there is a way to make that panel without a wide-belt. There's a fairly common router jig used to flatten workbench tops or slab table tops too wide to pass over a jointer. Look it up. Use that jig to flatten both faces. Pick the face you like better, and sand out the milling marks left by the router bit. Done.

[Jamie Buxton]

Here's a link to a thread in which I outline use of a router bridge. https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?97018-Face-jointing-a-big-plank-with-a-router-bridge&highlight=flattening

[David Kumm]

Cabinet shops in my area will run stuff through their WB for a fee. I bring it and help load it on the machine but the guys to the rest. I'd worry a planer would chip out the end grain plys. Dave

[Martin Wasner]

Cabinet shops in my area will run stuff through their WB for a fee. I bring it and help load it on the machine but the guys to the rest. I'd worry a planer would chip out the end grain plys. Dave

I do it all the time for people. $1/minute, which is basically free.

[Frederick Skelly]

Cabinet shops in my area will run stuff through their WB for a fee. I bring it and help load it on the machine but the guys to the rest. I'd worry a planer would chip out the end grain plys. Dave

Yup. I always call a cabinet shop and they do it. I would not run that plywood through your planer.
The router bridge is a good solution too.

[Tom Bain]

Can you give us some deeper perspective of your thinking behind this design approach? The plywood on edge design seems like a terrible surface for a desktop, which I would personally want to be as smooth as possible. To each their own, I suppose, but I kinda don’t get the utility or aesthetic appeal of this design.

[Bryan Lisowski]

I wouldn't do it. Your planner knives will get dull or ruined. Take the advise of the experts, find a cabinet shop and use their wide belt sander. If a local cabinet shop can't I would just get ready for some long hours sanding.

[Wayne Lomman]

Put it through a wide belt sander. Planing will tend to pull out random spots of timber and there is a high risk of burning the surface as the blades lose their edge. HSS blades will knock off and go home rather that look at it. Send the top to Martin. You won't get a better deal. Cheers

[andy bessette]

...I'll be going for the look of the desk in the blog post that I'm going to link to...http://www.sarahsbigidea.com/2014/02/plywood-gets-sexy/

^^^^^Ugh!!!!!

[Justin Ludwig]

Send the top to Martin. You won't get a better deal. Cheers
Until he decides to do a 3 pass per side at 1ft per min rate. :D

[Carl Beckett]

I 'flattened' a desk top once with a hand belt sander. And winding sticks. And a straightedge (believe it was a level).

Worked through some grit progression then finish sander.

It is possible.

[Frank Pratt]

^^^^^Ugh!!!!!

I was trying to be diplomatic, but ya, my sentiments exactly. That plywood edge grain is just fugly. Using Baltic Birch ply would make it marginally better, but still pretty bad.

[Frank Pratt]

I do it all the time for people. $1/minute, which is basically free.

That's really inexpensive.

[Martin Wasner]

That's really inexpensive.

If you say so. Between electricity and abrasives it costs me about $.60 a minute to operate.

[Patrick Kane]

I feel like this was discussed before and a lot of people bemoaned the idea of dulling knives. That is what knives do if you use them. To sharpen a basic set of knives is like $15-18. Heck, his knives probably need sharpened anyways. I would rather spend $20 and 5 minutes, than $5-8 in belt sander belts and an hour of my life sanding plywood edges. Plane away, i say. Then send the knives out to be sharpened.

[Andrew Seemann]

I was trying to be diplomatic, but ya, my sentiments exactly. That plywood edge grain is just fugly. Using Baltic Birch ply would make it marginally better, but still pretty bad.

I can't quite put a finger on it, but something about that design looks like it wants to self-destruct. It looks like it should work in theory, but I picture it cracking as the plywood dries out.

[Art Mann]

I think the top might turn out to be pretty interesting. I agree that the surface won't be really smooth no matter how much planing and sanding you do but there is always coating the top with epoxy.

[Mel Fulks]

Those plywood tops have had a couple of runs. One was at least as far back as the 1950s. I can remember being interested in them at 5 or 6 years of age.

[johnny means]

Plywood edges can be finished as finely as you want. I guarantee very few people on this forum are achieving finishes this perfect. FWIW, he's applying these with a brush.

[Frank Pratt]

If you say so. Between electricity and abrasives it costs me about $.60 a minute to operate.

That's just my point. You're paying for power, abrasive & a guy to run the machine & only charging $1/min. A bargain for him, not so much for you.

[Frank Pratt]

I feel like this was discussed before and a lot of people bemoaned the idea of dulling knives. That is what knives do if you use them. To sharpen a basic set of knives is like $15-18. Heck, his knives probably need sharpened anyways. I would rather spend $20 and 5 minutes, than $5-8 in belt sander belts and an hour of my life sanding plywood edges. Plane away, i say. Then send the knives out to be sharpened.

Ya, go for it then, but you'd better have a huge stack of knives on hand cause you'll be changing them about every 5 minutes. I just know from sad experience how fast that glue line will destroy an edge.

[Frank Pratt]

I can't quite put a finger on it, but something about that design looks like it wants to self-destruct. It looks like it should work in theory, but I picture it cracking as the plywood dries out.

I hadn't thought of that, but plywood can delaminate pretty easily, depending on the brand & what day of the week it was made. BB is definitely better but it's also more money.

[Neil Gaskin]

https://www.pollmeier.com/en_US/Products/baubuche/baubuche-about.html#gref

check out the above link.

Its available at liberty hardwoods. I believe they have a branch near Lincoln.

[Art Mann]

The quality of the plywood in your picture is not the same as the (cheap pine?) plywood in the original poster's link. I know how rough it will be because I have laminated two sheets of plywood for a router table top before and then attempted to finish the edge.


Plywood edges can be finished as finely as you want. I guarantee very few people on this forum are achieving finishes this perfect. FWIW, he's applying these with a brush.

[Martin Wasner]

That's just my point. You're paying for power, abrasive & a guy to run the machine & only charging $1/min. A bargain for him, not so much for you.

Sorry, I read your post as "really expensive" rather than "really inexpensive"

[William Hodge]

I'm planning a plywood project and I have a question. I'll be going for the look of the desk in the blog post that I'm going to link to. My question is this: Once I get the panels glued up and flattened on one side can I run them through my planer to get them to final thickness or will that ruin my blades? Thanks in advance.



Plywood is sanded to thickness, leaving grit on the wood. Running that wood through a planer will dull sharp knives. It won't ruin the knives, unless the knives are disposable or already dull.

To check this out, put newly sharpened knives in your planer, and run plywood on one side. Then run solid wood full width, and look at the difference.

I keep a portable planer on a cart. When I get sandy wood, or wood that has been on the floor, I send it through the little planer to get cleaned up.

[Jason Christenson]

Thanks for all the feedback. That's kind of what I thought. I guess I'll be building a router bridge.

Thanks again.