00:05planers are really loud machines back in
00:10the Paleozoic era nobody wore any kind
00:13of hearing protection and I'm still
00:15having a little trouble hearing stuff
00:16now and then but when you use a planer
00:18please put on some sort of hearing
00:21protection whether it's headset like
00:24this or your plugs not only that but
00:28when you turn on the dust collection
00:30that increases the velocity of the air
00:33over the blades and the whole thing
00:34raises up a whole nother pitch so now
00:38wherever you're collecting the dust off
00:40your planer we never used to back in the
00:41bed all day but we do all do now where
00:44he wears something on your head let me
00:47show you something else about planing a
00:48board sometimes boards are thinner at
00:54one end thicker at the other you don't
00:57even expect that but it can happen if
00:59you're pushing a board like that through
01:01the planer it can just stop at some
01:03point because the guard and the frontier
01:05will prevent the board from traveling
01:07any further when that happens don't
01:10just hit the off button and then lower
01:15the cutter head or in this case raise
01:17the cutter head and pull the board out
01:22and start over again
01:23one way to avoid that if you know that
01:25the board is tapered is to feed it
01:26through fat in first set your depth of
01:30cut accordingly when you're feeding wood
01:34into a planer be sure and stand off to
01:37one side not directly in the line of
01:40fire of anything that could possibly
01:42come throwing be thrown back at you like
01:45little chips or dust or even a well who
01:48knows what you just don't want to find
01:51out so stand to the side feed the wood
01:54in like this and be aware of your hand
01:56position too because what you don't want
01:58to do is have your hands gripped around
02:01the board like this as you're about to
02:02feed it in and get pinched between the
02:05infeed table and the board by the
02:07pressure of the infeed roller down so
02:11never grip the board like this when
02:13you're feeding it in just lightly
02:15support it with one hand start it with
02:18gentle push and be aware of that
02:20six-inch zone in front of the infeed end
02:24of the planer your hands should never go
02:26any closer than that so just be aware
02:30that there's downward pressure on the
02:32board don't get your fingers caught
02:34especially in a planer that has rollers
02:36instead of a solid table like this let's
02:40talk a bit about how to use a planer
02:42safely this is one of the most
02:44productive machines in the shop and it's
02:47kind of a black box sometimes most
02:48people you don't really understand how
02:50it works and that's going to be
02:52important to know how to use it but let
02:55me start out by saying first that the
02:57length of stock that you push through a
03:00planer is critical that is there is a
03:02minimum length that you should not push
03:05through this thing for instance a block
03:07like that well you might think it's
03:08pretty obvious for those of you who use
03:10planers but for those of you who haven't
03:12this ain't going to go through the
03:14machine without doing something
03:16seriously wrong my rule of thumb is only
03:20to push through pieces that are at least
03:24mostly because that's just an easy
03:26number to remember but I should explain
03:28to you where this number comes from
03:30because the manual for your machine
03:32might suggest something shorter might be
03:35a little longer it all depends on the
03:36configuration inside the machine so
03:39let's go inside and see how this thing
03:41works then we'll see where this number
03:43comes from I've unplugged the planer and
03:46raised the head all the way up so we can
03:49get a good look at what's going on
03:51underneath there are three basic
03:53components that I want to draw your
03:56first there's the infeed roller which is
04:02a serrated cylinder that pushes the work
04:05into the machine over here is the actual
04:10cutter head it's a long straight knife
04:13that rotates toward me as I'm standing
04:17on the infeed side of the blade this one
04:20rotates of the opposite direction of
04:23course to force wood through the machine
04:25then the third component over here is a
04:32the outfeed roller that continues to
04:34push the wood after it the end of it
04:37passes underneath the cutter head so
04:42here's the critical point about the
04:44length of your stock the piece that
04:47you're planing can't be any shorter than
04:50the distance between the center of this
04:52infeed roller and the center of the
04:56outfeed roller at a minimum and here's
04:59why this piece is shorter and if I
05:03imagine it being passed through the
05:05planer right about when it reaches this
05:07point as you can see it won't be
05:10supported or pushed down held down to
05:12the bed of the planer by either roller
05:15and the cutter head is free to do
05:17anything it wants to the piece it'll
05:20just jiggle around up in there shoot
05:22itself out back at you or who knows what
05:24so the point is that as a piece is being
05:27plane it has to be supported by one or
05:32both rollers and that's why the 12-inch
05:36rule comes into effect so again your man
05:39your planers manufacturer might
05:41recommend a shorter piece that 10-inch
05:43one might be okay they may even say that
05:45has to be 14 inches long for me 12
05:48inches is just about right and here's
05:51how it would look on this planer
05:53you can see a 12 inch board plenty of
05:56support between the two rollers it's is
05:58being passed through and as it exits
06:00plenty of pressure that is from the
06:03outfeed roller as it goes through let's
06:08talk a bit about what you can and can't
06:11run through a planer well first of all
06:13let's talk about the planer itself it's
06:15a machine for thickness in what not for
06:17flattening it that's what a jointer does
06:19a planer is generally a machine that's
06:22used for taking the opposite side of a
06:26board like this that's been flattened on
06:28one face and reducing the other face so
06:32that it's a parallel thickness to it so
06:35this would be perfectly fine to run
06:36through a planer I've jointed this side
06:38run it through here no big deal how
06:42about some other materials though let's
06:44take a look at this one
06:46here's a board that's flat on one side
06:49it's an ingrained cutting board I let's
06:51say I've all glued it up it's all
06:53irregular on the top edge can't I
06:55flatten it through the planer no I
06:58shouldn't and the reason is is because
07:00as you know this wood types tends to
07:04chip out as it's getting cut in grain in
07:07particular is pretty weak here so if I
07:09run this through the planer the last
07:11pass all the way through as the cutter
07:14heads at this end chips things out who
07:17knows where those chips are gonna go
07:18fly-in maybe up into the dust collection
07:21system maybe back at you so don't go
07:24there find some other way to surface
07:26something like this a router and a
07:28gantry is usually the best way
07:31here's another candidate for the planer
07:34if I wanted to flatten this could I do
07:38really first of all there's no flat face
07:41on this at all which is pretty obvious
07:43so there's it would just roll in rock as
07:45I passed it through the planer if you
07:47could figure out some way to secure this
07:49to a big flat board that would be okay
07:52but as it is don't even think could go
07:55in there other things that you shouldn't
07:58run through the planer melamine MDF
08:03man-made materials like this even
08:05plywood don't even think about it it's
08:08gonna destroy your machine chips may fly
08:11bad things happen anything that's not
08:14wood don't even think about that solid
08:16surface material it's just for solid
08:18wood one surface flat so again this is
08:23the classic piece to run through there
08:25you've joined it it now it's time to
08:26plate it sometimes when I want a plain
08:30knotty wood I got to be very careful
08:32that none of the knots are loose
08:35for instance this 2x4 has a lot of tight
08:38knots in it they're not going to jiggle
08:41loose when I'm planing the board but
08:43this knot right here is loose let me
08:47show you if I hit it with this punch
08:51knock it right out that's what I want to
08:55do before planing this board because
08:57what I don't want to have happen is I
08:59the board through the planer is to have
09:01that loose not pop out and come flying
09:03back out of me so check your nuts
09:08normally a planer is used to thickness
09:12boards that have already been surfaced
09:14on one face but if you don't have a
09:17jointer or if your board is wider than
09:21the bed of your jointer let's say you
09:22only have a six inch jointer you've got
09:24a ten inch board how are you gonna
09:26flatten it well you can use your planer
09:28to do that you could also use your
09:30planer to flatten something that is
09:32pretty darn twisted as well and what you
09:35need for this is a sled which is a big
09:39thick flat board like this I've just
09:42glued up some pieces of MDF to make my
09:44sled this sled has a cleat on the front
09:47edge right here and that will prevent
09:50the stock as I mean as it's being cut
09:53from being thrown forward by the rollers
09:57inside the planer now this board just an
10:00old 2x4 is pretty twisty as you can see
10:03so before I run it through here I have
10:06to stabilize it on the sled so it can't
10:09rock that's pretty easy to do all you
10:11really need is some shims under the eye
10:14spots so what I'm going to do is put
10:17this little wedge under here on that
10:21corner another wedge on the opposite
10:24corner like this in either hot glue or
10:27tape the wedges down in place so they
10:29can't move and now this thing is free to
10:32run through it except for one thing
10:35I also had a knot in this board and I
10:38wanted to keep the knot so rather than
10:41pound it out lose it I'm just gonna use
10:43some CA glue glue that thing in there
10:45and now I'm all free to run this whole
10:48thing right through the planer just as
10:50if it were a board with a flat bottom
10:52once this surface has been flattened
10:54then I can do without the sled turn the
10:58piece over and continue on to make my
11:00board when you're planing a whole lot of
11:04wood to the same dimension it's really
11:06tempting to gang it up and plane two
11:09pieces of at once which is just fine
11:11except for this one thing
11:13the first pass these boards won't
11:15necessarily be the same thickness
11:18you've jointed once I'd made a stack of
11:20pieces when you do have boards of
11:22unequal thickness as you feed them into
11:25the planer the rollers will only grab
11:27the thickest piece and this thinnest
11:29piece might just sit there stationary
11:32while the thicker piece is being pushed
11:33through and you might think oh that's
11:35fine I'm just going to push this through
11:37myself and that's not something you
11:39really want to do ever with your hands
11:40is to push a piece through the planer in
11:44fact you should never get your hands
11:45closer than say six inches or so of this
11:48the entrance to the planer itself so
11:51when you have boards like this of
11:54unequal thickness run the first pass
11:56through one board at a time you can butt
11:59them up one board after another that way
12:01the planer is tricked into thinking it's
12:03one super long board you will get less
12:05Snipe but on subsequent passes when
12:08they're all the same thickness grab them
12:10like this feed them two at a time
12:12through here or so let go within that
12:15safety zone and you're just fine
12:18a planer is a very safe machine to use
12:21that it really helps to know what's
12:23going on inside it so you don't make any
12:25dumb mistakes and that's what we're all
12:27about here is avoiding all the crazy
12:30things that happen to people but the
12:32safety rules are simple just watch it
12:34and we'll see you again later
