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SkinnyB

Established Member
Joined
23 Jan 2014
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Location
West Sussex
I have been getting some odd issues with my planer recently; it occurs when planing wide boards at max width capacity of the thicknesser. The edges of the wide boards when planed are left slightly tapered as if they are cutting deeper at the edges but not in the middle. I knew my blades were straight when I last changed them, as I have a lot to plane up in the next few days I thought I would give it the once over.

Had a look a the blades and check this one out! Totally bent and I knew exactly how it happened....

IMG_2108 by jamie skinner, on Flickr

A while ago I was running some end grain boards through the thicknesser taking of 0.3mm ish at a time, something I do often and without issue. I didn't realise but one board was thicker by about 3mm. Ended up putting it through the machine not realising... (max width and depth of cut) a massive bang, blocks of wood flew out, my hand pushing the piece in took one hell of an impact, the anti kickback teeth luckily stopped the rest of the board flying across the room but is quite bent up now.

Hadn't realised it had caused any damage at the time even after a checkover and due to it still planing ok. So today I was quite surprised by this. I took it out expecting it to have been permanently bent out of shape but to my delight it went straight back. Cutting well again but still makes me a little nervous with the end grain boards.

The bolts holding the blade were tight; the other blade was fine and still parallel with the planer head.
 
Well, i had a similar thing but different cause and outcome 🤣😁 i had someone helping me for a day, taking down a wall. I had previously taken up some oak flooring which had glue on the back and we were supposed to clean it up and reuse if poss. So, being a smartass, i took a portable thicknesser and set my helper on running the boards through. I however, gailed to specify that he needed to use the full width of the planer, basically alternating the position the boards went through.....
Then there was trouble!
He almost finished when there was a bang and i went out to look.... oh dear
 

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Glad to hear that you didn't lose any fingers in your accident. However, to make sure I can learn from your mistake, could you please clarify what you did?
You said:
" A while ago I was running some end grain boards through the thicknesser taking of 0.3mm ish at a time, something I do often and without issue. I didn't realise but one board was thicker by about 3mm. Ended up putting it through the machine not realising... (max width and depth of cut) a massive bang, blocks of wood flew out, my hand pushing the piece in took one hell of an impact, the anti kickback teeth luckily stopped the rest of the board flying across the room but is quite bent up now. "
Taking small cuts like 0.3mm seems very sensible but I'm not sure why or how a 3mm wider board would make a difference. What was the total length of end grain you were running over the blades? Did the timber dig down into the gap between the blades and the outfeed table?
 
Thicker, not wider.

The cut was set to remove .3mm from the thin end of the board, but this setting equated to 3mm at the thick end, and consequently... *BANG*... brown trousers!
 
Ah, I see... I may stick to a shooting board for endgrain.... fingers are just too darn useful!
 

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