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I sometimes want to reduce the thickness of a board by an amount that is too much to plane, but too small to re-saw. Does anyone have guidelines on the most they will use a planer? Conversely, if the amount to be removed is too much for a planer, then does it stand to reason that re-sawing is the alternative?

Thanks.

You can use the jointer to remove material on the face of a board. But, I just send it through the planer.

wdelliott wrote:I sometimes want to reduce the thickness of a board by an amount that is too much to plane, but too small to re-saw. Does anyone have guidelines on the most they will use a planer? Conversely, if the amount to be removed is too much for a planer, then does it stand to reason that re-sawing is the alternative?

Thanks.

I didn't know that there was such a board unless it was too wide for the planer. Otherwise you just keep feeding it through until enough goes away.
It is kind of like carving an elephant. You get a big block and remove everything that doesn't look like an elephant.
My old 5 HP Foley Belsaw will hog off up to 1/4" at a time if the board is not extra wide. In those cases I would take a couple of heavy cuts then a couple of light ones. Of course re-sawing saves a lot of wood but then again sometimes you only need one piece... and don't want to change setups.


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I think it is a matter of which is more 'convenient' at the time, and whether you might want to save the 'resawn' cutoff. i.e. Tis up to you to 'decide'!

wdelliott wrote:I sometimes want to reduce the thickness of a board by an amount that is too much to plane, but too small to re-saw. Does anyone have guidelines on the most they will use a planer? Conversely, if the amount to be removed is too much for a planer, then does it stand to reason that re-sawing is the alternative?

Thanks.

In my shop I hate to plane off more than 1/4", but it has been done on occasion.

As said,above by others - it is a personal decision. For example, I am now making wood boxes from 3/4 boards, 10"wide. I wanted to make boxes with 1/4" thick box joint sides - 10" tall. I could have run the boards through the planer and planned away 1/2". This was (IMO) too much waste with no need for a large bag of chips.

Solution - rip the 10" boards in half and re-saw the 5" boards in half - plane the re-sawn boards to 1/4" and re-join, making quarter inch boards 10"wide. Box joints now made and two boxes dry assembled.

charlese wrote:In my shop I hate to plane off more than 1/4", but it has been done on occasion.

As said,above by others - it is a personal decision. For example, I am now making wood boxes from 3/4 boards, 10"wide. I wanted to make boxes with 1/4" thick box joint sides - 10" tall. I could have run the boards through the planer and planned away 1/2". This was (IMO) too much waste with no need for a large bag of chips.

Solution - rip the 10" boards in half and re-saw the 5" boards in half - plane the re-sawn boards to 1/4" and re-join, making quarter inch boards 10"wide. Box joints now made and two boxes dry assembled.

I suppose that I must once again be missing the point of question here. When I need to reduce thickness of a board I make several passes reducing the diameter by no more than 1/8" with each pass. Later this week I will make six drawers for a turning cabinet for my shop. I will make at least three passes on six oak boards in order to achieve the thickness I desire. I remember one evening during a holiday when stores were closed when I needed four feet of Oak 3/8" inched thick. It took at least six passes to get there and I felt like a heel wasting all that wood. Yet a 60 mile drive to buy it and losing a couple of days time on the project made it worthwhile. Fjimp

I just HAD to have a stand alone planer, so I coerced the wife for a Dewalt 12" planer. I fell in love all over again!!! I'll scrounge anything,so I like to re-saw, and then plane when safe. Now I need a 52" belt sander mach.!!! (never happen!) jimsjinx

jimsjinx wrote:I just HAD to have a stand alone planer, so I coerced the wife for a Dewalt 12" planer. I fell in love all over again!!! I'll scrounge anything,so I like to re-saw, and then plane when safe. Now I need a 52" belt sander mach.!!! (never happen!) jimsjinx

Planer or wife!?

fjimp wrote:I suppose that I must once again be missing the point of question here. When I need to reduce thickness of a board I make several passes reducing the diameter by no more than 1/8" with each pass. Fjimp

Don't think you missed the point - maybe I did! When planning, I also make several passes, but my passes don't remove more than 1/16" - More often less than that!

Today, made 1/2" boards from 3/4" stock. This used 5 or six passes.

Getting back to wdelliot's origional question(s) -There is no limit on how much thickness one can plane. The only limit is "how wide does the planer open?" Although ridiculously wasteful, I could thake a 6" thick plank and pane it down to 1/16". My planer won't let me go thinner than 1/16" because the board will shatter.

IM0 re-sawing becomes an option when I can saw off a useable board leaving another usable board from the cutoff.