Best plane for snipe

[Anchul Axelrod]

I have a 20" planer. What is the best hand plane to touch up a board after power planing. Take out the small amount of snipe?

[Jim Koepke]

I have a 20" planer. What is the best hand plane to touch up a board after power planing. Take out the small amount of snipe?

That depends on you. This could likely be done with anything from a small smoother to a large jointer.

Small area cleanup could even be done with a block plane.

If you want to keep the board perfectly flat over the full length, then a wider and longer plane would be the choice.

Just remember, if one is not careful, it is possible to get snipe with a hand plane.

jtk

[Hank Knight]

Anchul,

Hard question. If you just want to fair over the gouge left by your planer when it snipes the end of your board, a #4 smoother or a #5 jack would work fine (or a bevel-up smoother or jack for the bevel-up guys). In this case you end up with the last few inches of the board slightly thinner than the rest of the board, by the depth of the snipe. If you want to take the whole board down to the level of the gouge and finish it so it's flat and a consistent thickness, that's a different story. In that case you'd probably want to start with a longer plane, like a #7 to make sure the board stays flat, and then finish off with a smoother (a #4). In the latter case, since you're taking the entire board down to the thickness of the snipe, you'd probably come out just about as well skipping the tailed planer all together and doing the work with hand planes.

Hank

[michael osadchuk]

I have a 20" planer. What is the best hand plane to touch up a board after power planing. Take out the small amount of snipe?

.....my understanding of "snipe" regarding machine planing is a 'small cut/depression' at the end(s) at end of the board.....

..... so if your ambition in "touch(ing) up" or "take(ing) out the small amount of snipe" is to create a uniform flat surface
no amount of hand planing only the area of and around the snipe is going to do that.......recall the tag line of more or more posters 'I cut the board twice and it is still to short' :D
.... you can handplane the snipe and the several inches beyond the snipe to make a less abrupt or noticeable drop off at the end of the board

...... otherwise if you want a flat board - and still want to use your machine planer the machine either needs to be adjusted, you feeding technique changed or use a longer board than finished dimension and saw off the snipe - or put 'stringers' alongside the board that go beyond the length of the board to incur the snipe instead of the workpiece"

good luck

michael

[Johnny Kleso]

For just touching up snipe a No3-4 you can use a block plane but I like bench planes for smoothing..

You also may like a No5 for cleaning off high spots before jointing... You can use any of the above planes to do any of the ops with the No4 being the most in between...

[Robert Rozaieski]

.....my understanding of "snipe" regarding machine planing is a 'small cut/depression' at the end(s) at end of the board.....

..... so if your ambition in "touch(ing) up" or "take(ing) out the small amount of snipe" is to create a uniform flat surface
no amount of hand planing only the area of and around the snipe is going to do that.......recall the tag line of more or more posters 'I cut the board twice and it is still to short' :D
.... you can handplane the snipe and the several inches beyond the snipe to make a less abrupt or noticeable drop off at the end of the board

...... otherwise if you want a flat board - and still want to use your machine planer the machine either needs to be adjusted, you feeding technique changed or use a longer board than finished dimension and saw off the snipe - or put 'stringers' alongside the board that go beyond the length of the board to incur the snipe instead of the workpiece"

good luck

michael

I have to agree with Michael. You can plane the sniped area all day and all you will get is a board with thinner ends. You need to plane between the snipe but not the sniped area itself in order to get a flat face as that is where the high spot is. The snipe is a low spot. I'd use a long jointer.

[Tim Sgrazzutti]

Most of the time, my solution to this is to saw off 5-6" from each end of the board. I've found it saves a lot of time to start with a board that is a foot longer than you'll need, and plan on losing some of it. My thickness planer is good about not sniping much, but when it does happen it's a PITA to recover from, because the only way to fix it leaves you with a board that's thinner than you wanted.

With that out of the way, when I need the full lenth of the board, I use a #4 or #5.

[Chris Padilla]

Personally, I'd use a chop saw to remove the offending snipe. ;)

[Pam Niedermayer]

Most of the time, my solution to this is to saw off 5-6" from each end of the board. I've found it saves a lot of time to start with a board that is a foot longer than you'll need, and plan on losing some of it. My thickness planer is good about not sniping much, but when it does happen it's a PITA to recover from, because the only way to fix it leaves you with a board that's thinner than you wanted.

The only way that makes sense if you're using a power planer.

Pam

[Richard Magbanua]

Personally, I'd use a chop saw to remove the offending snipe. ;)

Sounds simple enough to me!
If you HAVE to have those boards that exact length you could plane those boards in succession end to end, avoiding snipe. Also, you could put a small board of the same or desired thickness just before and after or alongside the board to be planed. Or you could plane more aggressively until just before you desired thickness and then do a light final pass. This works well on my planer.

Since this is the Neander' Haven, you know you don't need to resort to such excuses to go and just buy a plane... or two... or three. ;)

[Jake Helmboldt]

The only way that makes sense if you're using a power planer.

Pam

And isn't that the point of the original poster's question?:confused:

[Pam Niedermayer]

And isn't that the point of the original poster's question?:confused:

The original poster asked what plane would be best to remove snipe. Correctly, someone else said that snipe couldn't be planed out. And two or three of us said that the best way to deal with snipe would be to cut long, power plane, then cut to size.

Pam

[Derek Cohen]

I think that you all have it wrong. One requires a 20" wide smoother. :)

I know I have seen pictures of a Japanese version, but I can't recall where. Perhaps someone has the link.

Regards from Perth

Derek (and, yes, I am kidding ... except about the Japanese smoother)

[Pam Niedermayer]

Well, 20" is stretching it, Derek; but you can get 6" wide, at a fee, allows you to smooth a beam without ridges.

Pam

[Ron Petley]

I know he is not asking this, but would it not be easirt to adjust the planer to not have snipe than to try and plane the whole board in between the snipes, if these is such a word, plural snipe that is.
cheers Ron.

[Pam Niedermayer]

I know he is not asking this, but would it not be easirt to adjust the planer to not have snipe than to try and plane the whole board in between the snipes, if these is such a word, plural snipe that is.
cheers Ron.

How would you suggest doing this?

Pam

[Chris Friesen]

Well, 20" is stretching it, Derek; but you can get 6" wide, at a fee, allows you to smooth a beam without ridges.

I bet he's talking about a "super surfacer". Not exactly a neander tool though...

[Jim C Bradley]

Hi,

And all this time I thought Snipes were things that you went hunting for after dark. You take a sack and hold it. All of your "friends" go away to shoo the Snipe to you to go in the sack...while you keep calling, "Here Snipe, Here Snipe."

Guess wood workers should call, "Go away Snipe, go away!"

Enjoy,

Jim

[Craig Summers]

Personally, I'd use a chop saw to remove the offending snipe. ;)

I agree there, although i would like to test out my (stealth gloat) Ulmia workbench that i picked up in an estate sale.

The other way to handle snipe is to send an unsuspecting youth out with a paper bag to catch one ...... Snipe hunting ... its an elusive little creature :rolleyes: