Hi all ! I was trying to get a flat side on a large (8x8x6) beam yesterday and instead of a flat side , i ended up with a pretty good left to right taper . I tried again with a smaller beam with the same results .
I’m pretty sure this is user error and can hopefully be corrected with a better technique.
Any suggestions ? Should I be alternating direction each time ?
Once I noticed the issue , I marked the bottom of the wood and ran through reversing direction of the taper - each time and each direction all marks were gone. .
Any way to get this wood flat and eventually square ?
Thanks !
1 Like
You are following the twist of the wood. You need to only put down pressure on the wood after it passes the blade. It has to be enough pressure to keep the leading side flat while not allowing the trailing side to twist flat to the table before it passes the blade. This is very hard to do with a piece of wood as long and heavy as the one you are trying to plane. You may need to put a shim under the trailing edge so that the leading edge stays completely flat to the table until you have enough of the board in the same plane (this may take several passes) and the weight of the trailing part doesn’t make the leading part lift an edge or corner.
1 Like
Thanks !
Jeff McAdams
1 Like
Is a technique issue. You probably were using your muscle and elbow grease from the back table. As stated above, once you get the stock four to six inches through the knives, all your pressure against the table should be in the front table and just driving or guiding at the back of the stock. If you have a hard time balancing the cant or stock, you can move the stock against the fence. It would help you control it and save you time. The alternating ends technique is more for edging but still works as long as you balance the board at the same spot when feeding the stock. The hardest part is the first or second run once you get the board balanced, It is just a matter of getting the board face flat. Many times with boards or cants that big it helps to run it through the planer once or twice on top then flipping the board, do the same, and then go onto the jointer. You would have a better reference point. The bad, i think the Asmbly planer limit is 6." Make some dust and clean your mess!
1 Like
Tnanks - figured it was a technique issue .
I brought it home and put it on the router sled and will plane tomorrow.
Hopefully that gets it .
Thanks again .
Jeff McAdams