I have had a Dewalt planer for about 3 years now. I love the thing. About a week ago I finally got around to changing the blades for the 1st time. Wow what a difference that made. It is funny how something like tool sharpness can slowly degrade over time and you don't really notce a difference until you go to fix it then you ask your self why you didn't do it sooner. Next time maybe I won't wait 3 years. (Table saw blade is next)
Anyway, back to my story. I am building a sofa table for my Brother for a wedding present. The top is figured maple (12" x 48"), and I routed a groove around the perimeter of the top, set in one inch. I filled this with black epoxy for a high contrast inlay detail. After the epoxy cured, I sent the top through my planer about 8 times with pretty light cuts to level it and remove the very top layer that had a few bubbles. By the time I was done, the planer had two grooves set into the knives where the the inlay strip ran along both edges of the table top. So now when I run a full width board through., it leaves two raised bumps about 0.020 thick. I am pretty sure that I can remove them through a sharpening, but it sucks anyway. I didn't guess that the epoxy would have been that hard and/or abrasive to cause that kind of damage after just a few passes. Oh well, live and learn. Next time I will sand instead of planing, or run it through during that magical time window when the epoxy is mostly cured, but not full hard yet (instead of letting it full cure over night.)
The table by the way is turning out awesome. I painted the leg asembly satin black and the combination of the light Maple top, black legs, and black trim on top is very impressive. (this is not really my typical style of furniture, I ussualy don't go for paint. But, my brother is more into modern design, so that is what led me here.) I'll post a few pictures on my webpage after the wedding, so I don't give away the surprise.