End-grain Through the Planer? - Question of the Week

April 14, 2008 | Filed Under Blog, Question of the Week 

This week’s question comes from Matt. He writes:
After reading much debate on this issue, I thought I might like to hear your input. What does the Wood Whisperer think about running end-grain through the planer? I’m SOOOOOOOO tempted to try it because it would be so easy to clear up some high spots, but I’ve read that this can cause serious kickback, possibly turning the planer into a large grenade. (At least my portable anyway). I’ve read where people have done this their whole life with no issues other than tear-out at the end, which can be prevented by rounding over the end first. Others state stories of boards flying through neighbors windows, planer blades causing decapitation, and planers actually being knocked over from this process. At this point I think it’s safe to say that I’m not going to try it but, what do you think about it? “But, I was only taking off like 1/128,000th at a time”.

And here was my reply:
Hey Matt. I know that many people have done that procedure many times without a problem. I also know many folks who have done it and experienced disaster. That’s enough to scare me into NOT doing it. My biggest woodworking injury occured early on in my career when I tried to run the end grain of a board over the jointer. Big mistake! The board snagged and exploded in my hand. No MAJOR injury other than a huge blood blister and some numbness. But enough to make me almost poop my pants! The principal is the same with the planer, and as a result, I never do it. So…….. the final choice is up to you. But its an operation I do not recommend.

I would love to hear everyone’s experience with this technique, good or bad.

Comments

15 Responses to “End-grain Through the Planer? - Question of the Week”

  1. Ed on April 14th, 2008 4:02 pm

    My two pence: thickness your end-grain with a router & sled rig, a hand plane, etc.

    I had a nasty kickback while planing some end-grain cutting boards just before Xmas–1/128,000 at a time, like Marc says. I sprained both my thumbs, shattered a set of planer blades, warped a blade retention plate, was forced to drink a really nice bottle of wine I’d been saving, and suffered a nasty hangover the next morning.

  2. Tom Hoffman on April 14th, 2008 7:39 pm

    I did this with cutting boards many times without incident on my Delta lunchbox planer. One time, however, I got major kickback, ruined the board, and ruined the infeed rollers on the planer. This gave me a good excuse to buy a new planer, so I bought a Powermatic 15 inch with Shelix spiral cutterhead. Think I learned my lesson? No way…… I couldn’t resist trying it on the Powermatic. I’ve done it a few times with no problem except tear out on the trailing edge because I didn’t round over the edge first.

    The next cutting board I do will be flattened starting with 36 grit on my belt sander then to my Performax drum sander, working up the grits, and finished with a hand plane.

    Bottom line: Use power sanding and hand planes. Don’t ruin your planer.

  3. Rich on April 14th, 2008 8:50 pm

    Disaster. Tried planing end grain while making a cutting board. Took a series of huge gouges out of the board and my thickness planer made some horrible noises I hope never to experience again. Needless to say I was back at the wood store the next day buying what I had destroyed the day before. I still have the first board lying around the shop as a constant reminder to NEVER run end grain through the thickness planer. I’ll fix it one day, when I have about a week with nothing to do cause that’s about how long it’ll take to sand out the valleys. It’ll make a nice cutting board someday, albeit about 3/8’s thinner than the second one I DIDN’T run through the planer after glue up. Well, ya live ya learn. For me, it’s usually the hard way.

  4. Claude Stewart on April 15th, 2008 6:28 am

    Wow, well I’ve have never tried that and I guess I never will. I’ve never even thought about it before. Never tried end grain on a jointer either so I guess I’m just lucking I haven’t an occasion to ponder it. I’m glad the question came up here first. claude

  5. Dean Suminski on April 15th, 2008 7:43 am

    I tried running a cutting board once. Luckey for me, it got almost all of the way through before it shredded the edge. Careful sanding with a belt sander is what I do for the initial pass now. Not recommended at all.

    Dean

  6. Victor on April 15th, 2008 7:49 am

    I have performed this maneuver on several end grain cutting boards that I’ve made and another that I was refinishing. The trick as I saw it was to micro plane not gouge. As long as I was willing to be patient and make several more runs thru the planer using a very tiny measurement I was fortunately successful. I was able to move the pieces thru by listening to the blades as the piece progressed and only allow the blades to just touch the piece (1/32″) with each pass and observe the cutting action till I had the piece completed. Somewhat tense work and not highly recommended, but… I know I am so far just lucky! Oh, I used my Powermatic 15″ planer.

  7. robert on April 15th, 2008 8:07 am

    I’ve tried taking infinitesimal amounts off the endgrain with my Dewalt 13″ planer, but even that left scars on the wood. I would never run it through my jointer-planer. I wish I had a nice drum sander, but they cost too much for my meager budget.

  8. Tim Dibble on April 15th, 2008 8:35 am

    I thought that part of being safe was to think things through. The physics of end-grain through a planer or a jointer is simply against the safety of the proposition. Just because someone managed once or twice doesn’t make it safe, just lucky.

  9. Chuck Stromme on April 15th, 2008 9:48 am

    I’m with Claude. I never even knew this was an issue. Pretty timely, too. Today I’m doing the second glue-up of my Spagnola Special end-grain cutting board. ["Let's get ready to make ... cuttiiiiiing boards!"] I had definitely planned on using the planer on it tomorrow. My recollection is that Marc suggests that as one possibility. Well, I do have a back-up. I have a Veritas bevel-up smoother (wood show impulse buy — I am such a sucker for those) and I’ve never really used it. Maybe now’s the time. Bevel-up smoother on end-grain? I guess I can use my ROS but I HATE sanding. I also have a nice sharp #3 that I can use. No way I can afford a thickness sander. Well, maybe if they have a special at the Portland WW show in October and my wife doesn’t notice it in the back.

  10. Anacleto Armas on April 15th, 2008 10:54 am

    I recommend using Drum/Thickness Sander. This is much safer. I am not sure if I had been just lucky, but had never experience a major kick back with the drum sander. Anyway step away from the line fire is always good idea :-)

  11. Germain on April 15th, 2008 1:19 pm

    I had read about disasters when running end-grain through a planer. Although I’m typically a stickler for safety in my shop, I decided to try it anyway. When I add up the multiple passes I’ve made with multiple cutting boards, it’s probably over a hundred times that I’ve done it without incident.

    When I do run end-grain through my planer I make sure to stand beside it. I set the cutting heads to the same height as the board for the initial pass, then make very fine adjustments to bring them down. Also, since I take a lot of care with glue-up, my boards are pretty smooth before they go into the planer.

    Based on the experiences shared here and elsewhere, I suppose it’s possible disaster could strike at any time. Therefore, I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone else. Marc’s cautions may prevent me from doing it again.

  12. Dave Bruggeman (Dusty Corner) on April 15th, 2008 1:56 pm

    Hi Mark,I read the question of running end grain thru your planer and tell you that I did with many cutting boards till my last one exploded,that makes you a believer that its not a smart choice.I did find out my glue joints were very good though,the wood broke in between the joints and my planer did a fancy dance as it sprung it so it couldn’t be fixed and I had to buy a new one.My new planer with never see an end grain coming thru it ever.Now my small scraps go into my woodburner to keep me warm.Now I take the high spots off with my router and sandpaper.I hope this helps you Matt.Just a tidbit from Dusty Corners,Dave Bruggeman

  13. Matt on April 15th, 2008 6:35 pm

    I was thinking, perhaps the spiral cutter head vs. the regular knives will make a difference. The spirals are more than likely much more friendly and will play together with the end grain because of the way they remove material. Perhaps one day when I have the luxury of spiral cutters……..nah, I’m still not going to try it. :)

  14. Roger Webb on April 16th, 2008 6:01 am

    I think i’m going to take the advice of the author Isac Asimov on this one. He said “Any fool can learn by his own mistakes, but a wise man lets the snake bite the other fellow!”

  15. Ray Gardiner on April 17th, 2008 11:44 am

    I would like to add a vote for thicknessing.

    I did a batch of 6 cutting boards last christmas, (presents for the family!!) and had no problems planing endgrain, I was using a 15″ Hafco 2HP. I

    http://www.machineryhouse.com......kCode=W835

    I was apprehensive at first , the first one chipped out badly on the trailing edge, rounding the edges over fixed that.

    My conclusions:-

    1. Route the edges with a roundover bit before starting, (you have
    to round over again after thicknessing)

    2. Take light cuts, I was taking about 0.1mm at a time.

    3. Make sure that the bottom is “relatively flat” to start with. So that
    the board runs smoothly through the machine.

    The planed endgrain was much cleaner and flatter than I think
    I would have gotten with just sanding alone.

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