Thickness Planer – A Great Tool for Woodworking!

There is a thickness planer that has your name on it — whether it is a DeWalt, Makita, Ridgid or something else- all you need to do is go get it!

A thickness planer allows you to plane the surface of a piece of wood to smooth out a poorly finished surface, mill the piece to a custom thickness, and mill multiple boards to the same thickness. This type of tool is critical for millwork cabinets and furniture work.

You can find a thickness planer in various sizes. Most portable benchtop planers have a 12-13 inch width capacity. Most of the time you won’t need anything wider than 12 inches because anything you can get off the shelf (and would put through the planer) is usually a maximum 11.25 inches in width. Also most have a height capacity of 6 to 7 inches, which should be more than enough. Although most tend to be heavy – about 60 for the Makita to 90 pound DeWalt- they are portable enough and allow you to plane work at home or on a job site. They seem to have become quite popular over the past few years.

The thickness planer typically has a cylindrical head containing cutting blades that rotate at a very high velocity. They shave the surface of a piece of wood to a precise thickness leaving a clean smooth surface. The blades that come with the tool are generally high quality steel, but you can find carbide tipped blades that tend to hold an edge longer. Often double sided blades can be used so when they become dull, you can just turn them around and you are ready to work again.

The planner can plug into any wall electrical outlet (120v) and has an electric motor that drives feed rollers that pull the wood through the machine. There is usually a ribbed roller on the in-feed side of the planer that is the primary force behind moving the wood. The smooth out-feed roller is on the opposite side of the cutting head and it generally has less force on the piece of work.

When looking for a thickness planer, find one that has a 2-3hp motor. This size of motor is necessary because it runs both the feed rollers and the cutting head at the same time. Usually the feed rate is slow, about 16-26 feet per minute, on these machines because a slower rate plus a higher cutting speed equals the best finish for your surfaces.

In general you want to put hardwoods through the planner at a slower speed and softwoods at faster rate. Thus, some machines such as the DeWalt, come with multiple speed settings.

The thickness planer moves up and down to adjust to varying thicknesses. Different machines have varying degree of accuracy in this matter, but most have pre-set depth gauges that are reasonably accurate.

Keep in mind that even though this tool is power drive, you probably don’t want to take more than an 1/8 of an inch off any piece at any one pass through the planner. The result may end up with a rough surface, a damaged blade or your work thrown back at you from the machine. Most machines have an anti-kick device that has little metal teeth called pawls that will catch into the wood if it starts to back up on you, but to prevent an accident keep your cut depths shallow.

Dust and shaving control must be used when operating the thickness planer. If you have a vacuum system or just a shop vac you should hook it up prior to using the planer. Otherwise you will have to constantly stop working and clean the machine to prevent damage to the blades and inferior surface conditions. Plus, if you don’t hook up to some sort of vacuum, you will be buried in shavings!

The thickness planer, whether a DeWalt, Makita, Ridgid or other, is a great tool to be used in the home shop or on the job site and is necessary for any true woodwork such as furniture making or millwork for cabinets.

Enjoy this video on thickness planer maintenance.