Thicknesser safety question.

[Roxie]

I know it is normal practise to plane, using a thicknesser, in the direction of the grain, but is it safe to do so the opposite way ie. cross grain? The reason I ask is I have a jointed board that is too wide to fit my machine and want to reduce the board's thickness.

Any help appreciated

John

 

[kevinlightfoot]

I personally would say no,I tried to do it once and the thicknesser didn't like it at all! Think of ripping it and then thicknessing before rejoining.

 

[clanger]

Never tried it, and gut feel is "Don't try this at home...".

In theory, from a safety aspect you should be okay. The one-way fingers should hold it when it catches. However, I say When, cos unless it is the tiniest amount being taken off, it almost certainly will catch and tear. Then, once it starts catching it will keep catching and tearing until you get to the Big Red Button. That is unless you snap a drive belt, or blow a fuse first.

Chris

 

[Claymore]

I wouldn't (again) mine went bang and was definitely a Marmite Moment

Brian

 

[RossJarvis]

As long as the cut is fairly shallow you're likely to be okay, the finish will probably be poor though and a hand plane would be needed for a final touch if you need the board to be smooth.

 

[MattRoberts]

Better to angle it as much as possible, rather than 90 degrees

 

[Roxie]

Thank you all for your replies. I think consensus of opinion is against the idea, oh well better get the hand plane sharpened and benefit from the exercise and experience.

John

 

[OscarG]

Just an idea, I've seen youtube vids when they have a board too wide for a thicknesser. They rigged up a jig where you use a router sliding on a couple of rails to remove thickness from a board.

 

[Mr T]

Just an idea, I've seen youtube vids when they have a board too wide for a thicknesser. They rigged up a jig where you use a router sliding on a couple of rails to remove thickness from a board.

Thare was abit about this in a thread a few weeks ago, can't remember which thread it was.

Chris