What tool to thin down Trex?

[Wes Billups]

I am faced with the need to thin a 7' - 1x8 of Trex down from 3/4" to 1/2" for a deck project I'm working on and was wondering what everyone would recommend. It can be pretty rough as the shaved down side won't be seen.

Any suggestions. My thoughts are either using my portable planer or my cheap Ryobi hand held planer and just taking multiple passes.

Thanks,
Wes

[Brian Hale]

I'd run it through the planer...

Brian :)

[Jason White]

Thickness planer might melt it. Might have better luck resawing on a band saw.

Jason


I am faced with the need to thin a 7' - 1x8 of Trex down from 3/4" to 1/2" for a deck project I'm working on and was wondering what everyone would recommend. It can be pretty rough as the shaved down side won't be seen.

Any suggestions. My thoughts are either using my portable planer or my cheap Ryobi hand held planer and just taking multiple passes.

Thanks,
Wes

[Heather Thompson]

Wes,

I never worked with TREX, but according to their website standard woodworking tools should handle it, they do recommend carbide tipped cutters. I would send it through the planer.

Heather

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I'm with Brian. The speed of the planer cutter head would melt the stuff. Once polymers get in a bearing race the bearing is dead.

Polymers can be cut at high speeds only with the correct cutters and a good stream of coolant to the cutter.

Band Saw it.

[William OConnell]

Ive been avoiding trex for some years but I believe they sell it in 1/2" by 12 pieces for skirting. I know evergrain and a few others do

[Don Abele]

I built our previous home's deck out of Trex (lived near the ocean) and used my CMS for cutting it and router for rounding over some edges. I didn't have any problems with the blades melting the material. Cut just like wood.

It's made from 50% wood and 50% plastic - there are no high-tech polymers in it and not enough plastic to melt. IIRC the plastic comes mainly from grocery bags and such. It's a 100% recycled material.

If it were me, I'd run it through the planer as well.

Let us know what you choose and how it turns out.

Be well,

Doc

[Jim Kirkpatrick]

Hey Doc, When are you gonna replace the decking on Old Ironsides with Trex? :D

[Rick Levine]

I bought a similar product called TimberTech about a year and a half ago to use as a frame around the barn door I built for my shop and at the time I had a Dewalt 733 planer and ran several 2x6 boards through it with no problem. I sold my Dewalt and bought a 15" Steel City jointer and asked them if I could run this type of product through it and was advised not to.

I had no problem with the TimberTech melting and it didn't seem to cause any issues with the planer blades. I ran a fair amount of other woods through the planer and blade sharpness still wasn't an issue.

FYI, the TimberTech is not used for support. I lagged the track through it to 2x12 headers. It is just for appearance and weather resistance.

[Wes Billups]

Rick, thanks for the help. I've still got the dull blades on my planer I used to clean up some reclaimed trim. I'll try this and report back. If it works I may thin up some other boards as well. The overhang of the deck boards varies slightly over the 2x8 framing and by thinning up the 1x8 trim I will be able to make all overhangs equal.

As with your installation this isn't structural so I wouldn't even worry about going down to 1/4" if it works.

Wes

[Don Abele]

Hey Doc, When are you gonna replace the decking on Old Ironsides with Trex? :D

Warning: Response is Off-Topic...:)

Jim, actually we have about 1/4 of the upper (Spar) deck removed right now. We are in a two year overhaul period and the major work going on is to replace the entire Spar Deck. With all the wood we are removing, we'd love to give it away, unfortunately when it was put on in the 70's they used the old arsenic-impregnated pressure-treated wood. So it's all being disposed of as HazMat :( We are replacing it with plain, non-treated oak and douglas fir. Just like it would have been 210 years ago. The main reason for the deck replacement is to restore the camber (curve) to the deck to allow water to run off into scuppers at the gunwales.

Be well,

Doc

[Wes Billups]

Just wanted to update all of those that posted. I ran some of the pieces through my planer yesterday without any problems. It planes just like normal wood. I wouldn't want to leave the planed surface exposed as it looks and feels rough but I was really surprised how well it did. The blades on the planer are very, very dull but it worked fine for this material.

I also used the little hand held planer and other than clogging the dust chute it worked fine as well.

Thanks for everyone's help.
Wes

[Randy Davidson]

Just as another suggestion you might also try using your hand held router and a straight bit with a jig to set it at 1/2 inch depth.