Question about smoothness from thickness planers

[mywebaccts (at) PLUGcomcast.ne]

In the past, some of the boards I've purchased for some basic woodworking projects have had "chew" marks on them. Very small and almost undetectable, but quickly seen when you stain the board. I've learned to check out the board under various angles to see the deviations so that I can make sure that I've sanded it enough to remove the chew marks (not sure if that's what they're called).

Anyway, I'm thinking of buying a portable thickness planer - looking at the Dewalt DW733, the Delta 22-580, and the Makita 2012NB. I have a reasonable selection of woods available to me in Santa Fe, but the boards are usually far too rough and the amount of sanding required would be ridiculous.

Do these portable thickness planers do a reasonable job of smoothing a rough board? Does anyone have any experience with the three models I've mentioned above?

Jack

[tom]

Just the DW733 in my case, and you'd be sanding the cutter marks from the wood with this planer. Tom

[Patriarch]

"mywebaccts (at) PLUGcomcast.net" wrote in news:SLidnc9qXsPudRTZnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]:

I've used the DeWalt in my neighbor's shop, and the Delta at the local adult ed shop. I've got a Ridgid TP1300 in my shop. Those are all pretty good tools.

They're best at thicknessing, even with new or freshly honed blades. There will almost always be a sanding stage afterwards, even if you've applied some seriously tuned hand plane to the surface, with most woods. For me, that's OK.

I tried a drum sander, the Performax 16-32, for a while, and sold it after six months. It did what it was supposed to do, I suppose, but not what I really thought I wanted it to do. Some of my tools are like that, after all.

Smoothing a rough board is what a thickness planer does, but there will likely be some further finishing required to get it to 'perfect' or 'done well enough' for me. Set your expectations, and you'll be OK.

Patriarch, playing with hand planes more and more...

[CW]

I have a Delta 22-560. Predeccor to the one you're looking at. With proper technique (not hard), the only finish work required after planing is a light tough with a card scraper and very light finish sand. You will appreciate having a planer. Stock thicknessed by you to your specs is far better than anything you can buy.

[Woodhead]

I've seen little "divots" on the surface of some of the boards I've planed. It didn't matter which planer I was using. They all did it over time. I attributed most of the problem to either poor chip removal and the rollers then press the chips into the board surface or possibly dull blades press them into the surface. Whatever the cause they are hard to spot and sand out, especially in cherry. I haven't checked yet to see if they go away after a blade change. Maybe someone else has identified the source of the problem.

Jim

"mywebaccts (at) PLUGcomcast.net" wrote in message news:SLidnc9qXsPudRTZnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]...

[EXT]

I have seen them too on some particularly resinous pine, the chips were so sticky with resin that they stuck to the rollers and embossed the wood surface.

[CW]

My Delta will do that if I don't use the dust collector.

[Darrell Dorsey]

"mywebaccts (at) PLUGcomcast.net" wrote in message news:SLidnc9qXsPudRTZnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]...

What size jointer do you have?

Darrell

[Darrell Dorsey]

"mywebaccts (at) PLUGcomcast.net" wrote in message news:SLidnc9qXsPudRTZnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]...

What jointer do you have?

Darrell

[Edwin Pawlowski]

"mywebaccts (at) PLUGcomcast.net" wrote in message

I have the Delta. When the blades are new, you can go from planer to finish. As they age, the finish is less than perfect. You NEED a dust collector with it for best results.

[Prometheus]

My observation, for whatever it's worth, is that mill marks on a thickness planer usually come from not taking enough of a bite on each pass. Even on a big Powermatic, they still appear from time to time, but they are the worst on the first pass that touches the board, where the knives are skipping along the surface rather than digging in nicely.

Overall, I'm really less than overwhelmed by the technology. Every so often they do a job that nothing else will, but they're tough to set up, extremely loud, and the knives always seem to get nicked right away. I don't intend to toss mine to the curb, but I never expect the end result to be ready for finishing without a little sanding time first.

[John Grossbohlin]

I missed the beginning of this thread... but have a different take on the role of the thickness planer than the theme I've seen in the replies thus far. I view the thickness planner as a dimensioning tool and not as a finishing tool. The resulting finish may be OK if you are painting or doing work that demands a less than fine finish but for furniture, cabinets, or architectural woodworking where a fine finish is desired the thickness planer is not a finishing tool.

No matter how good of a job the thickness planer does the surface still has small undulations from the rotating knives. Worst case the surface has compressed wood from dull knives that can later expand when the finish is applied... Hand planning or sanding (power or hand) is needed to remove those surface defects.

My new favorite tool is an L-N No 7... I take the wood out of the thickness planer and plane the thickness planer surface off with a few passes of the No 7. Sanding using a firm sanding block and progressively finer grades of paper will do the job too but the jointer hand plane does the job quickly and takes care of minor snipe quickly. I find that with soft woods (relative hardness rather than broad category of hard wood vs. softwood) that hand planning works better as sanding often hollows out the soft parts of the wood between growth rings while leaving the hard parts standing a bit proud. This might sound odd but I've found that my L-N No 4 with York pitch, a tight mouth and fine iron setting works wonderfully on new white pine... seems counter intuitive but a lot of the new white pine is so weak that it tears out with a more aggressive hand planning attack. Basically I'm treating it like a wild grain hard wood. ;~)

John

[Lowell Holmes]

My 607 Bedrock with a Hock iron does a fair job too. :-)

My current passion is for the 5 1/2 Bailey that I recently put into use, and it's a $40 plane with no special irons or breakers. It's a weird one though, the iron is 2 1/4" wide instead of 2 3/8". Hock has a 2 1/4" iron listed.

I think I'll make a shooting board for it. It is flat and square, with good mass.

[Tyke]

I have the Delta 22-580. It does a great job, especially at the slower speed, but as other posters have stated you may need some final light sanding or scraping - unless the piece has some wild grain which can cause tearout. The blades will get some nicks and these will leave small lines. The Delta has rubber rollers so you will not see the "teeth" marks from models which have steel rollers which are machined for grip, but which leave little "teeth" marks.

I also have a drum sander which can sand without tearout, but also needs final light sanding or scraping to get a really smooth finish.

Bottom line is to expect some degree of final smoothing, but it should not take long.

Dave Paine.

"mywebaccts (at) PLUGcomcast.net" wrote in message news:SLidnc9qXsPudRTZnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]...

[George]

You need to study planer setup a bit more thoroughly. The serrated steel rollers are tension adjustable, which allows you to get the best compromise between no-slip feeding and the depth of cut which removes evidence of same. Important part of feed problems lies below, however, where the bed roller adjustment allows smooth feed with little pressure from above.

[mywebaccts (at) PLUGcomcast.ne]

[Darrell Dorsey]

"mywebaccts (at) PLUGcomcast.net" wrote in message news:id-dnVZl58JEPxHZnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]...

Okay, I kinda got that impression. If your using rough stock lumber, you'll definitely want to get a jointer first. You need to flatten and square up one side first on the jointer then run the remaining rough side through the planer to make it parallel.

Most of the lunch box planners will do a good job. I have an 8 year Delta

22-560, and it performs very well. I don't run a lot of lumber so I have the original set of blades installed. I have a spare set, but haven't found the need to change just yet. If I take my time and run the last few passes in very small increments, (say 1/4 turn on the handle), I can get a very smooth finish.

I'm gonna upgrade to a 15" in planner some day, but that will mainly be for noise issues. The induction motor will be a little quieter than the universal on the lunch box.

Darrell

[Darrell Dorsey]

"mywebaccts (at) PLUGcomcast.net" wrote in message news:id-dnVZl58JEPxHZnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]...

Okay, I kinda got that impression. If you buying rough stock lumber, you'll need to consider getting a jointer first. The jointer will flatten one side and square up one edge. You can then run the remaining rough side through the planer to get is parallel and final thickness. With out some jigs and finagling, it will be difficult to get parallel sides on rough stock.

Most of the lunchbox planers that have been suggested with give you good finish. But you will need to do some final sanding. I have an 8 year old Delta 22-560. I don't run a lot of lumber through mine and I have the original set of blades. If I take very light passes on the final passes, I can get a very smooth finish.

Darrell

[mywebaccts (at) PLUGcomcast.ne]

What is an L-N No. 7? I assume it's a planer of some sort, but I can't find it anywhere.

Jack

John Grossbohl>>"mywebaccts (at) PLUGcomcast.net"

[Edwin Pawlowski]

"mywebaccts (at) PLUGcomcast.net" wrote in message news:IcKdndE8CvgoRBHZnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]...

Plane, no planer. Lie-Neilson makes them.