Planing thin strips

[Harold Tinling]

I do a bit of laminating of thin strips of ash and black walnut. I cut strips 3/4" wide and 1/8" thick then run them through the planer to .100 thick.
The ash work ok but the planer seems to grab the walnut and knock the ends of and in general just destroy the strip. Any help out there to solve this problem? Thanks , Harold

[Jim Becker]

Most planers don't like to go below about 1/8"...for my J/P, 1/4" is pushing things, frankly, for many species. When the wood gets thin, it gets a lot more flexible and as the knives hit it, the wood bends up and into the cut, causing havoc. The grain of the walnut may be a lot more irregular than the ash you are running. Walnut is a bit more brittle, too.

Very thin strips might be better prepared on a small drum sander.

[Doug Shepard]

At only 3/4" wide you can thickness sand pretty accurately with a drum in a drill press and a single point (rounded end) fence clamped to the DP table.

[Lance Norris]

I have tried this also and have had poor results. I dont have a drum sander. Doug Stowes book
http://www.amazon.com/Creating-Beautiful-Boxes-Inlay-Techniques/dp/1558704434/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198895976&sr=1-1
states he uses a tapered sanding disc on the table saw. I havent tried this yet, but have located the disc here:
http://woodworker.com/cgi-bin/FULLPRES.exe?PARTNUM=95-430

Doug makes shop-made inlays for his boxes and sands them with the disc.
I also have tried, with mixed results, to sand between a drum and a fence, on the drill press.

[Lance Norris]

At only 3/4" wide you can thickness sand pretty accurately with a drum in a drill press and a single point (rounded end) fence clamped to the DP table.

I have used my straight drill press fence. I never thought about a rounded one. That would work better, Im sure. I will try this. Thanks

[Doug Shepard]

I have used my straight drill press fence. I never thought about a rounded one. That would work better, Im sure. I will try this. Thanks

My Performax 16-32 is definitely easier but I've used it with my OSS with good results too. Mine is about 2" thick, 8" or so long, and 5-6" high. Beefy enough that it's easy to get a few clamps on it to lock it down to the table. I just made the rounded end on a disk sander.

[Jim Solomon]

I have tried the drum sander method with mixed results. Probably usuer induced. Have you tried soaking the walnut first? Then plane them together with the ash. Drying won't take long, and if short enough a microwave will dry them quickly. I have used this method, mainly fir figured wood, but also thin strips>3/32nd.
Jim

[Harold Tinling]

I have tried the drum sander method with mixed results. Probably usuer induced. Have you tried soaking the walnut first? Then plane them together with the ash. Drying won't take long, and if short enough a microwave will dry them quickly. I have used this method, mainly fir figured wood, but also thin strips>3/32nd.
Jim
thanks for the responses I'll try doing to walnut with a strip of ash

[Eddie Darby]

I haven't tried this, so I'm not sure it is right, but I have heard about a method where you two way tape the thin strips to a thick backer board, and then run them through.

I know the dampening of the wood helps, since I have done this, but it was on thicker wood.

I find that the sanding method works for me, and I have a fence for it with a fine adjust, so I can get good results.