Nasty Planer Kickback

[Shane Sura]

Well I did something stupid. I was making an end grain cutting board for my wife and I had it in the final stage. I had it all glued up and just needed it flat. I took it to my trusty planer, which I had used throughout this project, and put it up tried to slice less than a 32nd off of it as a first cut. The first pass it was hard pushing through so I gave a little push and bam into my leg. Well I know my problem there.

So I took apart the planer checked all the blades made sure everything looked ok and started it again. I figured it was just a weird snag that first time. I proceed to push it through again and bam kickback right out the back (this time no standie behind it see I do learn lessons). I tried this a few more times each time pretty much putting it on the zero mark. I also tried a slightly thinner piece of stock and it went through just fine. Any ideas? At first I thought maybe the planer could not handle the end grain but it seemed to be able to throw it across the room just fine. The blades look fine and I can run a thinner stock through it. Here is some particulars:

Ridgid TP1300

Purpleheart / Hard Maple end grand cutting board was 12 x 18 x 1.25 (no longer)

I started out with 8/4 purpleheart and maple so I know the planer can handle it. Also through the first glue up phase I used it just fine.

Thanks in advance.


Shane

[jud dinsmore]

i haven't had them kick back but my dewalt lunchbox has torn them apart (snapped the end 3" off). i figured i was trying to take too much off and raised the blades. that seemed to do the trick. very light passes.


good luck,


jud

[Art Mann]

Thickness planers are not designed to cut cross grain. You should never use it in that way. Use a belt sander instead or take it to a cabinet shop and get them to run it through their drum snder.

[M Toupin]

Shane,
Planners don't like end grain as you've found out. Even if you manage to get it through the planner you'll end up with tear-out, especially on the back side. The harder the wood the worse the plroblem. A belt or drum sander is the way to deal with end grain. I'm just over in Hampton and have a drum sander if you would like to stop by.

Mike

[mark page]

I second what Art just said. If it were mine and with my luck, the machine would have shrapnelled like a grenade if I'd have tried this. Glad your machine was not damaged or you weren't hurt badly. Definately need a sander for this one.
Oh Jud & M, I lived in Virginia Beach/Norfolk area for six years. Nice area. Was stationed out of NAS Norfolk and flew back seat on E2-C's. Left the area in 1984 and revisited on vacation in 1986. Changed so much in 2 years I didn't recognize the place. I do miss the area though. Lots of heritage to visit and the best seafood imaginable.

[Sean Kinn]

Must be cutting board season. I learned this the hard way as well....they aren't meant for cutting endgrain. I thought I'd send on of my glued up rows through to clean up a rough edge from the tablesaw (was cut before I installed my new blade). It grenaded into about 20 pieces. Fortunately I had my hand on the switch and was clear of the blast zone. I just told the wife I meant it to be narrower cutting board to fit better on her sisters small countertop ;-)

[Shane Sura]

Thanks for all the responses. I guess I really learned my lesson with this one and I won't try that again.

Mike,
Thanks for the offer I really appreciate it. Unfortunately :mad:, I have to make another one now as mine is in a million pieces but I may need that offer in the future.

I also hope my planer is not permanently damaged. I am going to play with it some more with thinner stock to ensure consistency. The pass did damage the bed the wood rides on a cut a round indentation into it. I took it off and pounded it out as best as I could and then flipped it around I am hoping everything will be fine.

Shane

[Greg Cuetara]

Shane,
Sorry to hear your troubles. I just tried the same thing recently and it snapped my board in two pieces...I was going to try and use a router on a platform to flaten out another board that I have. There was another thread on here recently about end grain cutting boards ( http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=70290 ) which the author showed how to flatten the board using a planer. I think he said that you had to use a round over bit to round over the edge entering the planer so that you wouldn't get the kickback...not sure that I quite trust that one but It seems like he has had luck with it.

Hope you didn't kill your planer.
Greg

[Gary Keedwell]

I just finished my purpleheart and maple end grain cutting board last week and had no trouble planing. After I was done sanding ...I didn't like the flatness so I sent it back through taking a pass on both sides. I have a 733 De Walt. Maybe I was just lucky :o:)
Gary

[Pat Germain]

Bummer your cutting board got trashed, Shane. I have yet to try planing endgrain. After hearing about your experience, as well as the experiences of others here, I'll refrain from doing so.

By the way, I lived in Hampton for over 15 years; right next to Langley Air Force Base. I moved to Colorado seven years ago. Sorry. Can't say I miss Hampton. But I do miss the Langley wood hobby shop. ;)

[Bill Huber]

I guess I am just lucky or something....

I have made about 30 end grain boards and I have planed everyone of them on the T1300.

Before I put the board though the planer I put a bevel on the edges that will be running parallel with the blades. What this does is keeps the planer from knocking out chunks of grain as it goes though the last end.

I take very very little bits at a time, less then a 1/64 of an inch. Then just move the crank and do it again. The planer is set only low enough to pull the board though, in fact sometimes it takes off nothing.

[Jeff Sudmeier]

I must be lucky too because I have made about 5 end grain boards and try to take passes as light as possible something like 1/128th or so... slow going but it worked great...

[Josh Youngman]

I also have made many end grain boards using the planer (dw735) i always roundover or bevel the edges before running it through and take very little bites. I have done so without issue.

[Sean Kinn]

Yep, luck may be a factor. I too had sent several endgrain pieces through without incident prior to the grenaded one. Maybe when a combination of the particular grain, size of piece, angle it's fed through the machine , stars and moon align....kaboom. Just something to watch out for/ be aware of...

[chris yount]

I've used my friends rigid planer ,same model, that was not used for several years and had a similar problem on face grain .I pulled the planer apart and found the chain that drives the roller was binding as it turned over the gear when it unbound the chain would snatch violently.I cleaned everything up,blew dust from the links and sprayed with wd40.Then I worked the links back and forth to loosen them.I let the machine sit a day then did the same thing again.Then i sprayed some chain lube on it and it worked like a charm.The dust build up is really bad around the chain on these.
Hope this is helpful

[Bill Huber]

I was worrying a little about this so tonight in the shop I pulled out and board that had a bad glue joint right in the middle and was going to cut it for cheese boards but just never have.

Anyway what I did was to place it in the planer and do a cut like normal, no problem. Then standing way to the side I made a heavy cut, it almost stalled the planer and still no kickback. I did this 2 different times with no kickback.

I tried everything I could to get it to kick back and could not do it. I even put a small shim under one side and it still did not kickback, it did turn the board some but no kickback. I was using the 4330, I don't have the 1300 anymore.

So now I am wondering if there is something wrong with the planer when it lets this happen. Maybe the springs that put down pressure on the rollers are bad and not putting the pressure they should on the rollers. The TP1300 has a spring at each end of the rollers.

[Shane Sura]

I think you are right on it Bill. Like I said when all this was done I had an in print the shape of the roller on the aluminum metal on the bottom of the planer. I am going to take the whole thing apart this weekend and see if something else is wrong.

[Ray Turney]

Shane, I think what Bill said is right. I have made at least 40 cutting boards (purpleheart,maple,walnut,white oak,red oak,) in all different combinations and run them all thru my planer (dewalt 735) and have never had any kickback. When I start to plane them I might run the board thru 4 or 5 times before I take any material off at all and then when it does start I only turn the handle maybe a inch at a time. It might take a little while longer but I don't want to mess up all that work. Less might be better. Good luck

[Gary Keedwell]

Shane, I think what Bill said is right. I have made at least 40 cutting boards (purpleheart,maple,walnut,white oak,red oak,) in all different combinations and run them all thru my planer (dewalt 735) and have never had any kickback. When I start to plane them I might run the board thru 4 or 5 times before I take any material off at all and then when it does start I only turn the handle maybe a inch at a time. It might take a little while longer but I don't want to mess up all that work. Less might be better. Good luck
I do the same thing Ray. I like to sneak up on the board. I flip the board every time because basically I'm trying to just take enough stock off so the board won't rock when it sits on the kitchen counter top.
By the way, I have the original DeWalt 733 model and have sent end grain through mine with no problems.
Gary

[Kent Follmer]

My 13" Dewalt planer had a real hard time with the end grain; it did not kick back but it would go thru and there was some minor damage on the board.

The Wood Whisperer made it work on his pod cast.

I put some 80 grit in my belt sander and it was flat pretty quick; I am no expert but I think there are two basic variables: the wood species and the planer power. Some combinations work and some don't I guess. Sharp blades are a must to give yourself a chance.

[Greg Cuetara]

I tried planing down my end grain boards this past weekend....I made a few changes to my methods and finally got it to work pretty good. The first thing I did was to round over all of the edges. The next step I took some pieces of pine and made some runners and glued them to the sides of the board. I made the runners thicker than the board and also a lot longer than the board. When I ran it through the planer the longer runners were able to catch the rollers and pull the board through much better. The first step was to run it through the planer and I was able to sneak up on the board thickness and take very very small turns of the crank. If I took off a very little each pass the planer worked great. After I got one side flat I flipped it over and got the other side parallel with the same method. After the board was flat I was able to trim off the pine runners I put on the sides. If you adjust for this to begin with or don't really care of the ending size...if you are plus or minus 1/16" then this method should work for you. Good Luck to all. Greg