Shopsmith Forums

Everyone,
I must have confused. My question wonders the practical limits in using a planer to reduce the thickness of a board. Assume I start with a 1 inch thick board and want a 3/8 inch board. Does it make sense to plane away 5/8 inch to get to 3/8 inch? Does it make more sense to resaw?

I'm interested in what are people's thoughts in preferences in use of planer. Some might prefer to plane away out of a discomfort with resawing. Others might not want to plane down more than a certain amount to save the planer knives.

Maybe the planer is so efficient, that everyone would prefer the planer exclusively no matter how much thickness to remove.

I hope this is clearer.

wdelliott wrote:Everyone,
I must have confused. My question wonders the practical limits in using a planer to reduce the thickness of a board. Assume I start with a 1 inch thick board and want a 3/8 inch board. Does it make sense to plane away 5/8 inch to get to 3/8 inch? Does it make more sense to resaw?

I'm interested in what are people's thoughts in preferences in use of planer. Some might prefer to plane away out of a discomfort with resawing. Others might not want to plane down more than a certain amount to save the planer knives.

Maybe the planer is so efficient, that everyone would prefer the planer exclusively no matter how much thickness to remove.

I hope this is clearer.

I don't see any practical limits to using a planer. I do see the limits of wasting wood. Generating 5/8" worth of sawdust is just that - sawdust. But resawing a 1" board in half and then planing to remove the bandsaw marks gives you an extra board to work with.

It's really a matter of personal preference. Planing is easy - just run the board through a few times and you're done. Resawing can be a PITA. There are too many factors that can spoil the cut: blade size, and tension, blade guide adjustment, freehanding or using a resaw fence to compensate for drift, etc. With practice, I can now get the bandsaw to make a pretty decent cut - so resawing would be my preferred method.

michaeltoc wrote:I don't see any practical limits to using a planer. I do see the limits of wasting wood. Generating 5/8" worth of sawdust is just that - sawdust. But resawing a 1" board in half and then planing to remove the bandsaw marks gives you an extra board to work with.

It's really a matter of personal preference. Planing is easy - just run the board through a few times and you're done. Resawing can be a PITA. There are too many factors that can spoil the cut: blade size, and tension, blade guide adjustment, freehanding or using a resaw fence to compensate for drift, etc. With practice, I can now get the bandsaw to make a pretty decent cut - so resawing would be my preferred method.

I wholeheartedly agree PROVIDED we are really talking about 1" stock. If the materials were purchased at a box store, those 1" boards are probably more like 3/4" in which case I would make a couple passes through the surface plane.

dusty wrote:I wholeheartedly agree PROVIDED we are really talking about 1" stock. If the materials were purchased at a box store, those 1" boards are probably more like 3/4" in which case I would make a couple passes through the surface plane.

Yes. It also make a big difference if it is odd piece of cottonwood or some $500 piece of imported unobtainum...


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Aside from the chips vs usable cutoff, I consider the planer as only 'necessary' when common dimension(thickness) is needed for multiple pieces. Second to that is a need for parallel faces. Beyond that it is a matter of choice between options available/convenience.