DeWalt thickness plane (cheap 12 1/2 inch)

[Pat]

Egon said:

Pat:

Thats still a nice planner. Have you used one before? If not I can make a whole list of things not to do.

I replied:

Egon, Are these "Not to do's" personally tested multiple times by you and guaranteed to have bad outcomes?

This is not only my first thickness planer but the first planer I ever put wood through. I was a plane virgin. I do have a 6.x inch jointer (Rigid brand from Home Depot) and there are some similarities. I don't think the planer is so likely to get a pound of flesh and so far I have kept all my fingers during activities in the shop. I did loose a bit of the trigger finger on my off hand to a chef's knife but that is another story.

Typical kid stunt, I planed a few pieces of test wood then took the instruction book to the house and opened it up and found out about the gauge, the locking mechanism that locks the depth of cut (luckily it came un locked) and so forth. Doesn't seem to snipe much, even with my crude setup of sideways tilted pallet load of boxes of direct vent flue pipe for a workbench.

I ripped another fresh slab (with larva busily eating away at the wood within an inch of the bark. So much for the insect repellant qualities of this cedar wood. HMMMM this tree was girdled and had turned brown some time before I cut it down. Maybe THE BUGS don't eat the healthy ones.

Anyway, I would be pleased to get your (or anyone else's suggestos for planer technique, do's don'ts or whatevers...

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[egon]

Pat:

Just by coincidence I have a library book out which has the test results of a group of planners. The DeWalt was one with the least snipe and had good recomendations.

DO's:
keep an extra set of knives and learn how to sharpen them. My Delta has disposable but I've found they can be honed back to sharpness. Keep one set of knives for the really fine finishing. I beleive yours are resharpenable.

Remove bark if possible. Dirt and small pebbles may get loged there.

Have staight piece of solid board available to which an uneven warped piece of lumber may be attached. This allows you to get one smooth straight side to work from. The jointer may also be used for smoothing and straightning two sides of a piece of wood. From here its to the planer for thickness.

Make shallow cutts.

Snipe may be avoided by running another board of the same thickness extending past either end of the board being worked on. This is if width allows.

Note the smoothness of the planned surface. There are some wood grain patterns that are sensitive to planing direction.

And minimize the planning untill the project sizes are determined. Try and leave the boards oversized and if possible of even thickness to facilitate stacking and replaning. One can become mermerized watching the shavings and sudenly find you end up with paper thin boards and bags of wood shavings.

Get a band saw to facilitate resawing some of the larger thicker pieces.

And then go whole hog. Bandsawmill, 20 inch planner, 10 in. jointer, moulder, shaper and a 20 in shop bandsaw.

Dont's:

Use dull blades, make to deep a cut, feed too short stock, not have proper infeed and outfeed support, let the shavings pile up too deep.

Again a disclaimer as again my experience is limited to a very narrow band of experience.

Egon

[AndyF]

Pat,

A few things you may want to consider:

> Use a dust/chip collector. Planers generate huge quantities of shavings. If you don't have a collector plumbed right into the planer you'll spend an excessive amount of time trying to keep the shop clean.

> Joint one edge of your stock to prepare it for the planer. If you want nice uniform thickness boards, you need to flatten one face before using the planer. If your jointer isn't wide enough for the stock, you can make a sled for your router and use your router to flatten stock.

> Take light cuts. When I had a lightweight Makita planer, I never took a cut heavier than 1/16" on hardwood. If the planer starts to bog down or misfeed, reduce the depth of cut immediately rather than trying to force the piece through.

> Use hearing protection. The lightweight planers are too loud to operate without it.

> As Egon mentioned, keep a second set of knives on hand. Monitor the condition of your shavings. As the knives get dull, your shavings will change from clean larger shavings to ones with a fair amount of sawdust. Change the knives as soon as you see poor quality shavings, or when the planer starts to strain on fairly light cuts.

> Ensure that your pull rolls are set properly. If they are and you have an appropriate depth of cut, you should never have to push or "help" your stock through the machine.

Have fun with the planer, you have a nice machine and it should do a great job for you.

[fivestring]

I have a DeWalt 733. It was brand new, in the box but being discontinued so Lowe's let me have it for $100.85 + tax and an extra set of knives (I now have two extra sets of knives). I got it about 3-4 weeks ago and have not used it yet. My buddy has already used his and loves it!

I've been warned to be sure to remove all traces of bark (eats knives for lunch) and be sure when using re-claimed lumber, that there is no metal (nails, fencing, screws, etc.).

I looked at the Rigid jointer and liked it.
I also like the Yorkcraft jointer. It is about $100 less than the Rigid. One of the woodworking magazines stated that it was identical to the Delta (different paint, of course).

[Pat]

Egon, Good stuff! The plane came with an extra set of knives and I guess I'll be able to learn to sharpen them. If you keep one set fotr "fine" work, you might need more than just two sets.

About the jointer comment: The jointer will make one side flat and smooth but if you do the other (second) side on the jointer, although it may come out flat and smooth, it will likely not be parallel to the first side. I thought that the second side was a job for the planer as it will make the second surface flat AND parallel to the first (face down) side.

Of course once you go to the planer what ever side you cut will be cut to be parallel to the down side, elliminating one flat surface you made on the second side using the jointer.

Is there a reason you prefer to make the second side flat on the jointer?

In a few test runs, I saw the power to mesmerize the operator and end up with a thin wafer and a floor full of chips. The equal thickness for rough stock where applicable and practicable will sure save in setup effort.

I have a used Craftsman 12 inch band saw on a floor stand. It cost me $50 and after I twiddled it a bit seems to work OK. It has external motor with belt and pulley drive with stepped pulleys for 3 speeds. It takes bands from 1/8 inch to 3/4 inch. It is missing the little removable piece with a small slit in it that goes next to the blade and fits in a recess in the table. I will order one from Sears or make one.

Thanks for the hints.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Pat]

Andy, It came with a dust collector accessory and a reducer in case you dont have a big diameter connection. Due to the volume of chips I think I could use a large drum or two with removable lids between the planer and the shop vac so they will fill up instead of the shop vac. I will be installing a LARGE central dust collector in the new shop but can't use that shop just yet as construction isn't quite to the stage where that is possible.

I keep a pair of muffs laying on the infeed table or hanging on the depth adjust handle as a reminder to put them on. I find that there are some really good muffs out there that aren't expensive so I tend to have several pair with at least one compact folding set in a bag with some target pistol ammo and others hanging on the shop vac and in various "I wonder where I left them" locations.

Thanks for your ideas. Maybe the hardest thing will be sharpening the knives.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Pat]

fivestring, What a deal! I didn't beat you out by much (or any if you consider what I had to do to get this "FREE" tool.)

I once put ever so slight of a ding in my jointer knives with an embedded piece of "SHRAPNELL." I now have two (2) count'em TWO metal detectors. Both are small units but one is about the size of an anorexic cordless phone or slightly larger than typical cell phone. It cost only $19.95 but will detect a piece of a paper staple. I use it on suspect wood.

You have to avoid harvesting trees that are near houses or fences as there is often nails and barbed wire embedded in them, often from long ago with no visible signs on the surface. One of the logs I felled has two steel wires sticking out of it at the 8-9 ft above ground level. I will try to pull them or incise around them to losen and then pull them. If I were smart I'd not use that section but it holds promise of some boards with really nice coloration and grain, wide too but not so long. I'll proceed with caution and metal detector.

I've seen a lot of jointers that didn't seem to have a dimes worth of difference between them. Some are clearly the same castings with different knobs and small hardware and a different cabinet/stand painted a fdif color with dif name but essentially equivalent.

I really like the RIGID but have no point of use comparison as it is the only jointer I have ever used. Its adjustable fence thingy is about the same size as everyone elses but would be more convenient if there was a simple way to have an extension on it. When running a large object, on edge, it is a real challenge. I used it to work on antique casement windows and true divided light French doors and they were a chalenge to run through in a near but not quite vertical position, even with a helper.

Luckily I haven't "eaten" much bark with the plane and will strive to elliminate it from its diet, thanks to your warning. So far, except for a little bark, the only foreign material through the knives has been some kind of white larva eating the wood in their little chambers and they didn't offer much resistance (maybe cooling and lubrication?)

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[egon]

Pat:

"The jointer may also be used for smoothing and straightning two sides of a piece of wood. From here its to the planer for thickness. "

What I meant was the two sides are adjacent[ 90 degrees] which means That two sides are square. From this you go to the planer for thickness. Say you are working a 4x4 rather than a 12x 1/2.

Egon

[Pat]

Egon, Ya, I ban got it now some good you betcha. Sorry, I was not thinking of adjacent sides but opposite sides (starting to sound like trig). In theory you can plane one of the wide sides flat (with the jointer) then plane an adjacent side (edge) flat with the jointer, just as you said, and then use the edge (narrow side) against the fence to plane the 2nd wide side flat, in theory. You rotate the workpiece an additional 90 degrees about its long axis and keep sideward pressure against the fence. Sound math, tricky operation. Works in a limited number of situations.

Making a good true (90 degrees at each long edge) board goes well with two adjacent long sides flattened on a jointer and the other two sides done on a thickness plane as you indicated.

Some of my rough "slabing" of logs led to rough cut lumber with only a vague resemblance to 90 degree long edges. A plane would only make a real smooth replica of the WRONG angle. You can rip a decent narrow edge on a board that is goodly more wide than thick (sufficient aspect ratio) on the table saw and then plane from that with decent results in many instances. I guess it means for producing finished lumber you don't have to have a jointer.

I've been wondering about the practicability (considering my skill and equipment shortfalls) of rough sawing slabs to a thickness greater than the width of the more narrow trim I might want. Then sawing into slices a bit thicker than the finished board to allow for planing vs. rough sawing the log into slabs just a bit thicker (to allow for planing) than the finished trim thickness. The real difference is which/whose saw does the cutting, the mill or me. I guess the analysis will change a lot when I get a mill vs. hiring a mill.

It seems to go back to wanting a larger more powerful rip saw. I have seen some pretty crude but effective ones in the past, basically a blade on a shaft with a pulley belted to a pulley on the motor shaft, with or without height (blade exposure) adjustment. Don't need anything fancy or super easy to adjust as it will do many repetitive cuts before changing the setup and most setups will be repeated again next time so even a collection of fixed spacers could be used in lieu of a conventional adjustable rip fence. I think I could build something like this pretty strong and cheap in electric or gas powered.

Patrick, in South Central Oklahoma, USA

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[egon]

There are so many different ways to cut up the lumber one just has to find methods that suit the situation. I end up with a lot of stuff at around 4"x9" maybe 5 feet long. This is a size that I can physically handle. Smaller cuttings are made with the bandsaw.

Chances are you can use the mill to get a 90 degree angle on the log. This may make it easier to later run the boards through a saw as one edge will be straight.

In any case you will evolve a method with equipment on hand that suits your needs and gives the type of sawn lumber you desire.

Egon