Planing stained mahogany???

[Ryan Sparreboom]

I have just received a bunch of free wood. Alot of it is really nice mahogany. But it is stained and clearcoated with something, It's finished.

I want to strip it down to raw wood again, but hate doing chemical stripping. Can I just run it through a planer?, assuming I metal detect it to make sure there are no nails or screws in it?

Will the finish wreck the blades? Ridgid 13" planer with carbide blades.

Thanks.

[Steve Schoene]

Should be fine. Clear finishes especially have nothing to really dull blades.

[Mike Hoyt]

Hey Ryan, sorry that i dont have anything to add to your original post, but im very curious where you got your carbide knives for that planer. Is it the newer 4330?
Thanks, Mike

[Ryan Sparreboom]

Hey Mike. My bad. For some reason (brain fart?) I thought the blades are carbide. They're not, they are HSS. Sorry 'bout that!

Will planing off the finish still be o.k with HSS blades?

[Steve Schoene]

It will still be OK. Heavy paint with lots of metallic oxide pigments might dull your blades much faster than usual. But given a $30 cost for replacement blades, it might be well worth it to avoid hours of stripping.