inset drawer front planning

[Julio Vargas]

Hello all, I am experimenting by making a table with inset drawers in the apron. I cut the drawer front out of the apron to make the grain flow and then glued the apron back together. Now I need to plane the apron down to final thickness.

If I run the apron through the hellical head planner will it explode due to the interrupted material?

Do I need to do this with a drum sander?

Any help is appreciated.

478344

[Lee Schierer]

I have no experience with helical heads, but the only area I would be worried about if I were running it through my planer would be that center stile. If you decide to run it, I would advise using some double sided tape with a pretty goo gripping strength to hold a similar thickness piece of scrap against the trailing side of that center stile to give it additional support. I would also hold that piece of scrap in place with some brown wrapping paper glues to the hidden side of the piece. This would give that center piece extra support as it passes through the planer. The brown paper will easily sand off after the piece has been resized.

[Patrick Kane]

The center stile is in the same grain orientation as the rest of the apron, right? Hard to tell from the photo. I would expect no issues at all on this, UNLESS, the trailing end of that center style is reversing grain, then you might experience blowout/tearout on that trailing edge. The same would be true of the end of any board with very squirrely grain. I would run the rear/back of the apron face first, but i think this is fine.

[ChrisA Edwards]

Around that center piece, could you glue (screw?) in a couple of sacrificial blocks to help support it while you plane and the later cut it out?

[Jeff Roltgen]

Yes, use your drum sander. Slower, maybe. Don't forget to visualize as you decide:
3-5 minutes of multiple passes with sander, VS:
3-5 minutes of prep, a moment of sheer dread "will it explode, or am I going to get lucky with this planer"
Deal with whatever your luck brings you (exploded piece? damaged planer? Is it wood joinery or pocket screws lurking behind that splitter?)
Or, bide your time, comfortably allowing the sander to get the job done.

[Derek Cohen]

Hello all, I am experimenting by making a table with inset drawers in the apron. I cut the drawer front out of the apron to make the grain flow and then glued the apron back together. Now I need to plane the apron down to final thickness.

If I run the apron through the hellical head planner will it explode due to the interrupted material?

Do I need to do this with a drum sander?

Any help is appreciated.

478344


You plane it with a hand plane ....

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/Transformations2_html_4e31d3b2.jpg

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/Transformations2_html_m19ffe02d.jpg

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/Transformations1_html_m3055b7f5.jpg

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/Transformations1_html_m4ce59699.jpg

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Greg Parrish]

If you run it through the planer, at least video tape it so we can all watch and hear the expletives that are sure to ensue. :)

[Patrick Kane]

Short of his planer ripping apart the glue joint, i dont understand why you all think this will blow up in the planer? It is glued in place to the 4-5' long 'rails'. Yes, its a short piece of grain, but its not a cross or end grain orientation. The worst thing hes going to experience is tearout on the trailing edge of the center stile, and even that isnt guaranteed, in my opinion. This is why i recommend surfacing the rear of the piece. He needs to take this thing down to his finished thickness, and im assuming he doesnt want to hand plane 1/8" of material If you take it off the back and experience a little blowout, then no big deal. Hand plane the front glue joints flush.

[Greg Parrish]

Short of his planer ripping apart the glue joint, i dont understand why you all think this will blow up in the planer? It is glued in place to the 4-5' long 'rails'. Yes, its a short piece of grain, but its not a cross or end grain orientation. The worst thing hes going to experience is tearout on the trailing edge of the center stile, and even that isnt guaranteed, in my opinion. This is why i recommend surfacing the rear of the piece. He needs to take this thing down to his finished thickness, and im assuming he doesnt want to hand plane 1/8" of material If you take it off the back and experience a little blowout, then no big deal. Hand plane the front glue joints flush.

Patrick, I hope you are right. I'd probably try it myself, but I've had pieces like that go flying off in the planer. Don't know why it is prone to knock them of or crack them, but my experience has been that it did without reinforcement. Maybe it's just me.